Star Fighters
by CertifyyedGoon
Summary: Born an expendable child of the royal family of Otogakure, honorable suicide is the highest thing Sasuke could ever hope to attain. His death was hoped for, expected, but not to be. Captured by the enemy, he must decide to accept death or live anew
1. Prologue

**Star Fighters**

**Summary**

**Born an expendable child of the royal family of Otogakure, honorable suicide is the highest thing Sasuke could ever hope to attain. His death was hoped for, expected, but not to be. Captured in the hands of the enemy, and with his own people seeking his demise, Sasuke must choose between two worlds: one offering death with honor, the other life with love.  
><strong>

**Prologue**

**Caught**

Crown Prince Sasuke Uchiha of Otogakure was seventeen years old, and he was trespassing.

With Lady Sakura Haruno in his wake, he lifted and twisted his body up the expanse of the outer wall and into the inner partition of the palace. Another ten meters upward and Sasuke neared the specific shift in the craggy stone that gave him just enough room to pass between sheer rock, his nose barely touching against the opposite wall as he moved. Digging his fingers into the craggy stone of the Electorate High Council Chambers, he was grateful that when these structures had been built centuries before, the architects had reflected on style rather than security.

As is, the cracks in the surfaces of the buildings offered too many hand and footholds, and places in between walls didn't quite add up and made for perfect little nooks to sneak through and around into the inner chambers of the palace. All of them ancient places to spy on unsuspecting lawmakers, and Sasuke had become very adept at finding the best passageways over the years. When he no longer had use for them, Sasuke reasoned to keep his conscience clear, he would have each of his hideaways destroyed. No council _he_ would sit in would be spied upon.

Another meter above him was a tiny ventilation shaft that would offer him a passageway to the view directly below to the proceedings of council. This shaft, he reflected with a light smirk, would certainly be off limits if anyone besides himself and the girl half a meter below him knew it existed. A tiny crumbling noise accompanied by a soft gasp caught Sasuke's ears.

"Sakura!" he hissed. "Be quiet!"

The girl didn't reply, her strawberry-blonde hair bouncing off her shoulders as she maintained her composure and reached for another handhold. Sakura was a sturdy, inventive girl, but no matter how much physical training she endured, her upper body strength appeared to remain subpar, a failing she could hardly escape with Sasuke always dragging her on these escapades into secret passageways. Without giving him a glance to spare, she gritted her teeth, flexed her arms, and scaled another half meter by shoving her legs down as hard as she could, almost catapulting herself off the wall. Somehow she retained her balance and finally looked up at him to give him a flash of white teeth. Sasuke smirked and also continued upward.

Turning his attention toward the opening, he snaked his body quickly inside, feeling instantly the turn from ancient to modern under his fingers. The metal shaft stretched on for a few meters before Sasuke veered left, voices echoing in the distance. They were getting closer. He checked behind him for a moment to see that Sakura was behind him still, though at a sizable distance. She'd make it fine. He turned another corner and was finally met with his desire: a break in the shaft in the form of a ventilation screen that glared a serene blue light over Sasuke's face as he approached it. Directly below him lay the council, each of the members of the Royal Otogakure family accompanied by an assortment of Space Federation members, whose arrival had been kept so tantalizingly secret that Sasuke couldn't possibly help himself. He hadn't spied on a council meeting in at least two years, but whispers of upcoming war had him itching with concern. Behind him, Sakura finally arrived and shoved his brown boots out of her path to practically crawl onto his back to afford her a better look.

Sasuke ignored her pushiness, only murmuring a "Stay quiet," in response, and turned his attention to the council below him. Inside the council chamber, the Electors from Ame, officials in dark robes who had arrived only that morning in a space cruiser built for speed, spoke in deep and solemn voices. They were all elder men, wrinkled and solemn, with low voices that hardly made it to Sasuke's aching ears. Two more allies, the Kirigakure system and the Mizugakure system, also sat on the side of the Federation, their powdered wigs offset their liquidly pale skins. There were a total of six Electors from the Water Systems, as they were nicknamed, and with the dozen more from the Federation as well as the Royal Otogakure Family, the council chambers were relatively crowded. The most impressive of the Federation systems by far was Konohagakure, the largest group who had arrived in ships that Sasuke could only dream about flying. Behind each of the electors stood their royal guard, powerful-looking men in an assortment of fine clothing, each tailored space suits to preserve the image of power in front of other nations as well as serve as comfortable equipment to best protect the guard's charges. Sasuke had seen the Federation ships' arrival himself only that morning and despite all his inquiries, no information was afforded him except there would be some form of meeting wherein matters of great importance would be discussed.

Sasuke studied the blasters and laser crossbows tucked at the sides of each of the guards and felt the nerves in his skin crackle once more. These were men who had seen the vastness of the universe, had left their home planets and had escaped to the stars above to explore other systems. Sasuke could only imagine with hooded eyes how it would feel to power his way outside the atmosphere of the Otogakure System in a T35-Sharingan, nothing but space looming endlessly on his nav-screen. Soon, he promised himself, he and Sakura would be roaming the free space and taking on missions to the farthest corners of the galaxy.

His eyes drifted back to the Konohagakure group once more, their sheer presence so commanding that he couldn't tear his gaze away. A woman headed them, surprisingly. She seemed to find it necessary to show a great amount of cleavage despite her commanding air and heavily guarded person. She had three advisors around her, one who was currently whispering in her ear, the other two standing at attention on either side of her. His words must have elicited some sort of trigger in the woman ruler, for in the next second she made a comment to the rest of the council that had the room reconsidering the subject at hand. Sasuke found himself unintentionally enamored with her guard, however, who hinged his body at the hip and coincidentally revealed his Kunai-X62, a powerful handheld blaster that Sasuke had only read about before. He gulped and leaned down so close to the screen that he could feel an impression beginning to form on his cheek and lips. Another of the Konoha men sported an alternative Kunai series weapon, one that Sasuke could see was equipped with a glasteel blade protruding every so slightly from the top of the hilt. A smart hit to any part of the body with that weapon would incapacitate any enemy, and Sasuke suppressed a flicker of envy for such weaponry. The Otogakure System was notorious for its rather callous methods of attack, but certainly not for their technological advances. In an effort not to dwell on his home's short-comings, Sasuke shifted his head to the third guard of the Konoha system and spotted a surprisingly unimpressive-looking weapon hanging from a man's hip. It appeared to be nothing more than a cylinder, a few pieces of polished metal clinging to the sides like ancient battlements to a castle, but the sheer authority of the man holding it as well as the ease with which he stood directly beside the council members of the Konoha Electorate suggested that perhaps it held other powers yet to be seen. The man holding the cylinder appeared to have light-colored hair, but with the shadows of the council chamber so complete, Sasuke could make out little else, save the glimmer of silver, maybe blue, eyes.

Sasuke followed the man's gaze in the next second and noticed finally that he was staring at the Akatsuki. The legendary Otogakure guardians stood directly behind the royal family. Their over-large black a nd red cloaks possessed an ethereal flow about them that appeared to be in constant motion even with no wind and no movement from the body. The Akatsuki themselves remained completely motionless, all weapons hidden, their faces even masked behind shadows and long bangs that hung in front of all human features. Another shudder stole over Sasuke's body upon beholding the three men.

Opposite the Konoha Federation Officials, the Royal Family sat in serenity and all the grace sophisticated breeding offered, the High King of Otogakure elevated slightly above his two heirs. All of them were related to Sasuke by blood. His cousin Kabuto, the youngest man in the council chambers at twenty-two and thereby the lowest seated in the hierarchy, sat straight as a pin, a light smile hovering over his lips while the glint in his spectacles cast an unworldly light over his eyes. Occasionally as the conversation would flow away from his direction, Sasuke would see his lips twitch unconsciously, frowning for a moment only to be replaced in the next by the ever-constant smile.

Beside Kabuto sat Orochimaru, his milk-pale skin and sharp eyes in the dim lighting causing shivers to crawl up Sasuke's spine. Orochimaru was Kabuto's elder brother by a dozen years or so and while his presence didn't command respect, it commanded attention. Cradled neatly in the traditional clothing of the royal family, he cut an appealing figure, dark hair swathed about his broad shoulders. He also held a simpering smile, his voice light and clear when he spoke pleasantries toward the other members of the council. Occasionally his gaze would flit to Kabuto, who appeared to have a tap into his brother's mind, and they would share an equally minced smile that Sasuke could never understand no matter if they were family or not.

Above them all sat Madara Uchiha, the King of all Otogakure and surrounding planets and the highest-ranking Electorate present, even above all the members of his own council. He was a tower of strength, a good head and a half taller than any man in the room, the Uchiha crest and color scheme adorning every square centimeter of his body. His eyes were calm and smiling as well and seemed intent on what one of the members of the council was saying, though Sasuke could only guess if such focus was true.

Beside him, Sakura shifted slightly, which caused Sasuke to freeze, his eyes focusing intently on the Akatsuki below him. One of them, a man who had a small stature but commanded authority nonetheless, shifted his red eyes upward and made specific eye contact with Sasuke. He made no formal motion except to move next to his master the king and whisper into his ear. The young Uchiha flinched and shoved himself backward.

"That's it, Sakura! They've got us! Hurry back down the shaft and run for the fort up near the northern border. I'll take the east side and come out the palace gates." Sasuke's mind raced with possible escape routes. He'd evaded the palace guards effectively before, he'd surely do it again. The Akatsuki were an entirely different animal, but he was confident with his knowledge of the area that they had a fighting chance. Forming large-sized tracks in the once undisturbed dust, he shoved both himself and Sakura father back down the shaft, hastily kicking the girl a little down one of the adjacent corridors. "Don't worry! I'll meet you there if I-"

"Third Prince Sasuke Uchiha, come down from there this instant."

It was the voice of one of the Akatsuki, which one he couldn't be sure.

Both of the adolescents froze. Sakura's green eyes widened in panic for a split second before Sasuke clamped a hand over her pink lips and gave her a glare that could have perhaps frightened half the men down in the room below. It certainly worked on Sakura, who wilted under his intense gaze, giving his hand a quick squeeze before silently skidding herself backwards, pivoting her body toward the exit and sliding down.

Sasuke took a moment, smoothed his black hair back into a presentable shape, inhaled a shaky breath, prepared for the worst and all at once shoved his hand through the vent, which clattered noisily to the stone floor a good five meters below. The shocked gasps of a few of the council members pleased him slightly as he dropped himself from the edge of the newly created hole and landed neatly on his hands and knees before the high council of Otogakure, facing both his cousins and uncle head on. He raised his head and gave each of the royal family a small, refined bow.

Sasuke felt no guilt, only remorse over having been caught so decidedly.

Despite that, he knew his position. He was the third child to a noble household, a Missling to the king, and an expendable. He tried not to think about the kind of consequences that could be easily dealt to a subject who didn't have much longer to live even in normalcy. He could feel the entire room tense as they all must have come to the same conclusion, but Otogakure was a system known for its rather archaic punishing methods. He shuddered mentally at what they had done to him last month, when he'd been caught in violation of curfew in one of the off-limits flight simulators: an injection of Manda, Kabuto's most lethal stimulant, which sent the victim's mind into an utter tumult of jumbled thought and feeling. He'd been put in the same off-limit simulator he'd violated curfew in, only with a hefty dosage of Manda purging his veins and heightening his senses until every light was unbearable, every sound excruciating. Even more worrying was the fact that several Misslings had been killed for far less in the past. Sasuke quickly eyed the Otogakure Electorate, old men who lived in constant reminder of their own power and importance. They stared condescendingly down their noses at the Third Prince, regarding him callously as nothing but a Missling, and Sasuke reflected with the curling of his stomach that most if not all of the council members would enjoy a little blood with their politics.

Sasuke attempted to look submissive and contrite but felt neither.

Madara Uchiha stood from his chair, his cascading robes and Uchiha red pendants dangling ceremoniously off his shoulders, giving the effect of a royal portrait come to life. "So, Sasuke, it appears you have chosen to spy on the Electorate this time."

The '_this time'_ Madara had included in his phrasing almost made Sasuke smile.

The young Uchiha raised his eyes to his uncle who had spoken. Madara was as broad and imposing up close as he was from far away, an ethereal youth clinging to his skin and hair perhaps only by a thread, but Sasuke could tell no difference. He only knew that as king, Madara could take Sasuke's imposition on the council chambers as a direct act of both heresy and high treason, and also there was-

"Such rude behavior for a Missling."

Sasuke could feel rather than see the smile that had been delivered with the cruel statement.

"Don't be rude, Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto interjected with grace. "Such words are not appropriate for council chambers."

Orochimaru turned to the members of the Federacy as well as to the members of the neighboring planets to apologize, rather than sparing a glance down at Sasuke, who slowly got to his feet and leveled an even glance at the lords of his home planet.

Madara visibly appeared to be making his decision, leaning his forehead against a wide, ashen palm. Wordlessly, he motioned to the two Akatsuki standing at his side. They reacted without having to be directly told, securing Sasuke unnecessarily by both of his arms, while another Akatsuki member held the younger man forcibly down by his neck. Sasuke's lips nearly kissed the polished floor. The young man, spurred on by the violation of his right to look his punisher in the eye throughout the trial, attempted to raise his head, but he was shoved back down repeatedly.

"Sasuke, this is by far not your first offense against the traditions of this governmental body. Your lack of cooperation with the rules and regulations of your position as a _Missling _also disturbs me."

Sasuke mentally cringed at the exaggeration of the word but schooled his face into submission. He could feel the eyes of the council on him, long standing Otogakure citizens who looked down their noses at him, the _expendable_. Sasuke could feel the Akatsuki member slightly tighten his hold on his collar, almost choking him in the unbearable hold. He felt the perverse desire to kick the man.

Casting a cautious glance behind him, Sasuke swept over the Konoha leaders once more, who had moved aside until the interruption was removed. Incongruously, he looked at the youngest of the three, the one who had before only been noted for his strange weaponry. The man was tall, fine-featured and in greater illumination could be seen for how truly young he was, perhaps only a decade older than Sasuke yet proudly displaying Colonel stars on his navy blue uniform. He glanced in Sasuke's direction, effectively catching his gaze before he could successfully tear himself away, and Sasuke noted with the sputter of his own heartbeat that the man didn't have silver eyes but a most invasive blue he had ever seen.

The Akatsuki holding him again tightened his grip, effectively forcing Sasuke to look away while simultaneously breaking the spell over the boy. Sasuke somehow found himself relieved as he stared up at his uncle.

"Your majesty," Sasuke said softly. He thought it appropriate to appear as remorseful as humanly possible, hoping that sheer civility and a display of good breeding might grant him some leniency for his crime. Surely Otogakure did not want to shame itself by punishing a lowly Missling in front of foreigners. "I apologize for my actions, for interrupting, and promise never to observe you again."

"You've forced my hand, Sasuke," Madara said in a low voice. He narrowed his eyes and seemed to come to a conclusion. "You're sentenced to two months of house arrest, during which time you will not leave your quarters for any reason other than to attend your daily courses and train appropriately. When you attend class, you will be escorted. Captain Nagato will see to this. "

Sasuke looked up to the man holding his neck in the vice-like grip and noted how he nodded a slight bow to Madara. Sasuke closed his eyes, silent relief flooding his system. It could have been much, much worse—

"Also, during those two weeks, you will be subjugated to daily Manda injections, which if you even once refuse to submit to will result in your untimely and dishonorable _discharge_, if you quite catch my meaning, Sasuke. I can only come to the conclusion that you seek to disrupt the order we provide in this governmental body because you desire the thrill of stimulus. I will see to it that you are given enough stimulus to satiate you once and for all."

Sasuke's head shot up, black eyes widening to uncomfortable proportions. But no matter the waves of paralyzing fear that shot up and down his spine, he would not let it show on his face.

"The Manda injections will start today as well. Kabuto." Madara gestured to his left-hand man, who was already standing demurely from his chair, dark robes swirling playfully around his feet. Sasuke didn't miss the slight smile hidden just under the darkness of shadow cover. Captain Nagato released Sasuke from his tight hold at last, and Sasuke shakily brought himself upward to look at the king and surrounding members of the council with an unafraid gaze. He offered a bow, hinging at the hips and remaining so before he was jerked unceremoniously to the side, allowing himself to be led away to a fate that had him sweating bullets.

It could have been worse, he reasoned rationally. He could have been killed. But the thought of Manda swirling through his veins for the next two months caused him to stumble slightly, his hands sweating so badly that when the Akatsuki member attempted to catch his fall, he nearly slipped from the man's hold. Almost in a feverish swivel, Sasuke's eyes met the Konoha Colonel's, who seemed to be just as horrified as Sasuke felt. Those blue eyes had a luminance all their own, and once again Sasuke's breath caught in his throat. But in the next second Sasuke was out the door, and the eyes couldn't have meant less to him.

His own boots sounded ominous and hollow as he passed from one corridor to another, finally meeting the frigid Otogakure air in the depths of winter as they exited into the central palace courtyard. Kabuto was hot on Sasuke's heels and nearly giddy in his excitement. Kabuto had no animosity toward Sasuke: Sasuke knew this. Kabuto, however, had a special penchant for the chemicals that made Sasuke want to die in a hundred different ways. Sasuke was naturally Kabuto's most frequent test subject considering his own penchant for punishments. As they made their way into the western side of the courtyard toward Kabuto's own personal sector, Sasuke saw Sakura's light hair glimmer in the distance. He caught her eyes as she clung to the palace gates, staring him down and communicating with no words her worry.

He could only offer a small smile and a gesture toward his destination. While he expected her to be relived he had escaped death, he only saw horror mask her features. Sakura was one of the very few who knew of Sasuke's acute phobia of needles and Manda. She looked near bursting to tears as Sasuke slowly scaled the stairs up to marble-coated structure, finally losing sight of his closest friend as the metal door slammed behind him.

**It would be another year before Otogakure would begin the war with Konoha.**

**So here is the beginning of my new Sci Fi Fic, **_**Star Fighters**_**. It's going to be pretty darn interesting if I say so myself, and I plan on it being something of an epic. So read and such and such. **


	2. Chapter 1

**Hello again and welcome to chapter One. Yeah, last one was a Prologue. This story takes place later on, about a year after the events in the Prologue. I'll reward you for your patience by making this thing long. If you're looking for fucking, keep looking. I'm taking my time with this story. There will eventually be fucking. Awesome fucking… but not now. **

**Soon. **

**Soon.**

**But not now. **

**But soon. **

**Here.**

**Chapter 1.**

**Missling**

"_The importance of… power struggles can often result in… The Laws of Social Respectability…"_

It was no use. Sasuke closed his eyes and stretched his legs that had grown another six centimeters in the past year, so long that he hardly knew what to do with them. He stretched and leaned away from the dining chamber's long table and glanced upward at the glass chandelier, the dim lights hurting his eyes slightly. His body was a bustle of energy, while his mind pined away over and over again at the diplomatic strategies in Hanayoi's _Practical Politics in an Illuminated Society_, one of the Academy's Naval course books, coming to the same conclusion that he had met an hour ago: politics were frightening and almost completely nonsensical. The gleaming screen of the scanbook reminded Sasuke in an almost audible sense that if he didn't learn it now, somehow it would come to bite him in the future. Or perhaps it had already bitten him.

In the past year, Madara had succeeded in consolidating his reign into two simple words: aggressive expansion. First Prince Orochimaru had bred with one of his appointed brides, who was expecting their second child any day now, and Second Prince Kabuto…

Opened the dining room doors with a loud crack and a grating laugh. "Goodness, Sasuke, if you keep it up, you'll be back in Captain Nagato's cells and sipping on Manda cocktails that father will force me to make for you."

Kabuto hadn't changed a bit.

Sasuke suppressed the involuntary shudder threatening to wrack his body at just the word 'Manda' and focused on his cousin's words. "I merely followed my intuition, Kabuto."

"A Missling defying an Electorate vote twenty-six to one isn't intuition, little cousin," Kabuto replied as he sat in a chair farthest from Sasuke. He took one of the wine bottles and poured himself a substantial glass, smiling into the dark cherry liquid as if he savored it as much as his own words. "It's suicide."

"You know I never approved of Orochimaru's weird projects," Sasuke said, closing his scanbook and leaning over the breakfast table. Kabuto rang the bell, and a bustle of servants brought out the morning meal. "It's nothing but a show of sadistic power and includes an unlawful annexing of the Amegakure System, which puts not only our own citizens into jeopardy but also treads on Federation territory."

Kabuto adjusted his position slightly on his red-cushioned chair and smiled condescendingly at his younger cousin. His cream and purple robes glittered with unexposed gems sewn just underneath the outer layer of fabric, and as Sasuke glanced at them, he couldn't help but compare them to the chandelier. Kabuto's smirk didn't fade. "Yes, you said as much yesterday during the voting. Much good it did, though."

"Yes," Sasuke agreed with some bitterness. Only a few months ago with his coming of age had he been granted permission to finally sit in on the council rulings, and so far he was about as close to changing anything as a blaster bringing down a Farragut battle cruiser. He made logical, sound arguments, but as he saw evidenced in the voting yesterday, politics meant adhering to a specific agenda. Nothing could change with the entire electoral body under the thumb of one intelligent man.

The solid wooden doors to the dining hall opened once more, this time with a belligerent and defined _burst _that had half the servants flinching and the other half frozen in fear. Such was the greeting First Prince Orochimaru often had early in the mornings. Today was a little special considering the events of the previous evening.

"_Missling_!" Orochimaru hissed, his hair cascading around his pallid face as he slid more than walked toward Sasuke, who tried not to wince at the harsh word uttered from his cousin's mouth. "You're lucky the Akatsuki haven't come for you already, you little brat! You dare attempt to defy my motion? You should attempt to take advantage of the time you have _left_ rather than shortening it. Misslings who countervote don't last long, I can promise you that!"

Sasuke straightened himself and squarely faced his enraged cousin. "If I had to vote again, I wouldn't change it, Orochimaru. I didn't support your motion and voted as much."

The elder man could have gotten much angrier at the statement, uttered with a level of passion and defiance not much observed on the palace grounds, but he pulled back with a smirk. He walked to the head of the table and motioned for one of the servants to attend him, seating himself with all the grace of royalty and all the edge of a serpent. "No matter. _You _are not a problem I will have to deal with for much longer."

"Lord Orochimaru, not at the table. Though Sasuke, I do worry for you. Why must you squander the time you have left with these petty crusades?" Kabuto said this while absently looking at his fingernails

Sasuke glanced at both his cousins, his family. One maintained his glossy composure, now chewing daintily on venison while in full knowledge that their world was about to be plunged into a war fueled only by ambition. The other was the main force behind the entire fiasco in the first place and was glaring daggers at Sasuke's black eyes, one corner of his lip turning upward in a nasty grimacing smile. "You both can condone the fouling of an entire world," Sasuke said softly. "But I cannot. There are some things worth fighting for."

Orochimaru snorted at the statement and also began to consume his morning meal. A long silence stretched over the three princes, and even the servants began to feel the air become thicker and thicker.

Kabuto finally put down his glass of wine after having chewed the last bit of egg, shoving his plate aside for the servants to take away. He cleared his throat noisily. "Lord Orochimaru, I hear Kanna will deliver sometime in the next week. You must be thrilled."

"Oh yes," the dark-haired man said with a wicked smile. "Only a couple of days. There'll be quite a few changes in the family _then_, right Sasuke?"

Kabuto inclined his chin slightly in silent reprimand, and Orochimaru ceased his teasing. The young Uchiha swallowed and tried not to look terrified. With the birth of Orochimaru's second daughter, Sasuke's place in the line to the throne would be bumped down to the fifth position, far too low on the totem to remain living. He would then be issued his Seppuku orders and asked to quietly end himself in one way or another, to protect the line of the royal family and to maintain the balance of power in the Electorate council. He could almost feel Orochimaru's unabashed glee seeping from the man's pores. It sickened him.

"I'll live longer than that," Sasuke said finally. "They'll send me in with the invasion force, probably the first strike. I'm a good pilot, and I'd much rather go in the air than…" His voice choked slightly as he tried to search for an alternative. His breast pocket suddenly felt heavier and he resisted the urge to reach for his chest to see if a weight had literally been placed there.

"Sasuke, I'm told you're top of your class at the Academy," Kabuto said politely, obviously longing to change the subject. "Surely your skills may be put to better use."

Sasuke shrugged unceremoniously. "I prefer to fly."

"Yes, yes," Orochimaru put in with a dismissive hand. "Go fly one of those T5- whatever they are."

"Excuse me," Sasuke said as he rose from his chair. "I had better be on my way. We have a speaker coming in this morning." He paused to gather his scanbook, snatching a few other school items before dawning his coat. He bowed politely to Kabuto who returned the gesture with the inclination of his head.

"I'll help them put the black edging on your portrait, Sasuke!" Orochimaru called with a laugh to Sasuke's retreating back. Sasuke ignored him and made a quick run back up to his own quarters, gathering a few other materials he would need for the day and stuffing them into a small knapsack that he hung lazily across his back. He paused for a moment in the full-sized mirror that nearly took up an entire wall to his chamber and observed himself for a moment. In the past few months, he had grown taller, more muscular, his constant training finally beginning to show physically, meat added to his once only skin and bone frame. His hair he had let grow of its own accord, just to gauge the reaction from his superiors. Two years ago, if he had allowed his hair to grow more than a centimeter past his jawline, he would have been publicly reprimanded by Academy officials and forced to cut it short once more. Now the longer portions of his hair were almost touching his shoulders while the top branched out rebelliously, the result of Sasuke's inattention to any sort of hygienic upkeep in the past few weeks. As he had suspected, with the date of his Seppuku approaching faster and faster, the people around him were giving him small breaks, pitying him even when his intense pride could never allow such favoritism in the past. No one wanted to make worse the plight of a man slated for death.

Sasuke found he could no longer stare at his own reflection, grimacing as he exited his quarters and paced down the long palace hallways. His feet lead him past the gallery, where once again he was confronted with his own visage: the formal portrait to which Orochimaru had referred. Sasuke had been fourteen, brave, defiant and proud, clothed regally in white and blue with his hand settled on the arm of a high-backed chair, which was only half in the frame and empty. The lighting as well as the scenery made Sasuke appear rather kingly, but the artist had not neglected to put in a characteristic smirk within the folds of the paint. Still, as Sasuke looked deeper into the chocolate eyes, he could feel the distinct glimmer of fear, peeking out from the brown and hinted with a black, oppressive sadness.

Sasuke wondered briefly if the world noticed the scarcely tangible sadness in those eyes or if he was as transparent and naked as he felt at that moment all the time. Did others see the flaws of his wall of courage?

He straightened his black Academy uniform and held his head down. He picked his pace up to a light jog before exiting the palace walls, confronted with a wall of cold wind that he ducked his head against. The Academy was not a far distance away, and despite the chill in the wind, the day was calm. Ducking in between tiny corridor-like streets covered in snow, he attempted to shake the sense of impending doom hovering around his shoulders and almost ran smack into Sakura in his concentration.

"Woah, Sasuke!" the girl gasped, catching him by a strong shoulder. "What is it? You look terrible. Did Oro—"

"Of course," he cut her off with the shake of his head. "When is it not Orochimaru?"

Sakura lowered her head slightly. "That man is the devil, Sasuke. Don't let what he says get to you. Hey, look at me." He lifted his head to meet her startlingly green eyes, smiling softly at him. She raised a cold hand to his cheek. "Nothing he says matters, so don't listen, alright? _And_ if we don't hurry, we are going to be damn late!"

She laughed and grabbed him by his arm, pulling him along with her. He allowed himself to be dragged through the snowy streets. She wore the same black Academy uniform he did, only it was cut down to a dress with thigh-high boots clicking away at the stone. Sakura's rebellious strawberry-blonde locks were unsuccessfully pinned into a bun, strands escaping here and there to touch her shoulders.

They soon entered the long polished halls of the main Academy building, which were almost as cold as the snow outside despite being one of the finest crafted buildings in all of Otogakure. He could feel the rising tension in the air, hissing away with the muted conversations of the other students. The briefing room was a relatively normal-sized classroom, arranged in an escalating elevation to grant all students the view of the front. He and Sakura slid into adjacent seats, loading their scanners into the com system, which brought up their entire scholastic home-space, including files for the current lesson.

Sasuke accessed his with ease as the guest speaker made his way to the front of the room. His name was Roushi Younbi, the cause of the hostility buzzing about. Sasuke had heard previously that the man, though physically unassuming, with a tiny frame, a belly that protruded outside his waistband and a ruddy face, was starbred: a descendent of the original Jinchuriki. He had once pledged allegiance to the Federation, until one of the Akatsuki members, Kisame, had managed to persuade Roushi to turn traitor and change allegiances from the Iwagakure System to the Otogakure System.

Sasuke had heard extensively of the Jinchuriki descendants, fascinated with the concept of an entire race of humans borne from un-humanoid aliens, most of them taking shapes very similar to animals. There was a legend that millions of years ago, the Jinchuriki resided on a single planet and ruled as gods before infecting a great deal of the humans on their planet with their strange genetics, causing an entirely different breed of human as a result, called the starbred. Soon humans on other planets began to fear Jinchuriki descendants, then respect them, and now they were the favorite tools of the Federation. It was lucky, Sasuke mused, that according to legend, the starbred didn't feel the need to dominate and were content enough to step back and allow other rule. Lucky for the Federation, that is. Otogakure would never allow the descendants of aliens anywhere near a position of power.

"So," Roushi said with the decided raising of an eyebrow. "Your planet believes that you have the capacity to take the entire Amegakure System by force. Well, I'm beginning to believe it as well."

To Sasuke's left, Sakura bristled slightly. "Slimy," she whispered. "Trying to butter us up." Sasuke nodded in agreement. Roushi appeared to be the kind of man who possessed a mind that no one would want to touch, compensating intelligence and natural talent with sheer meanness and boorish behavior. As the top-scoring student in the class, Sasuke was already afforded the rank of Captain upon graduating the Academy, but doing well in this seminar could also grant him a commendation, though he could only guess that it wouldn't be so easy with Roushi already beginning to stalk back and forth down the hallway in between desks. He could only assume that when Roushi gleaned Sasuke's identity and rank that he would be the first to suffer from some form of ridicule.

"I intend to train you in regards to the Federation's Konoha Telepaths: _Jounin_ the trained ones are called. As officers, a majority of you are more than likely to encounter them than your, shall we say, _long-lived_ counterparts in the other sectors of this academy." The room instantly became charged with a lethal tension that rent the air like a lightning strike from a defective star speeder. Sasuke swallowed and cursed the man who had informed Roushi that this briefing was filled with only Misslings. Completely unabashed, the man continued. "You will never meet a more self-righteous, exclusive, pompous group of people if you search the galaxy your whole life. They founded the Federacy, you know— Not that they're entirely trusted. Of course, people always fear what they don't know." He cleared his throat and made an expressive march down the front of the room, the lights dimming as he did so.

Sasuke, despite the fascination of the subject before him, found his mind wandering. He could not get the hideous words Orochimaru had spoken to him this morning pushed from his skull. They rose up like constant, tiny wounds that scabbed only just slightly before reopening a hundred times more painful than the original injury. Sasuke's status as a Missling had never seemed so real before, but with him staring at the prospect of his early demise, the soon-to-be siege of the Amegakure System, he could not help but feel a little out of body. Seeking reassurance, he glanced sideways at Sakura, but half her face was completely obscured in the darkness, barely allowing the possibility to make out her features. The other half of her face was illuminated in the eerie blue glow of the holo-screens, and from it he could tell she was enraptured in the subject at hand, eagerly sketching quick notes in her nav-disk with a stylus.

Sasuke also turned his attention forward and found himself completely snared in the content flickering over the projected holograms. At first they showed the supposed Tailed-Beasts that first spawned the Jinchuriki, old history that Sasuke was well familiar with. Roushi bent over the blocky media unit at mid-board and seemed to attempt to make eye contact with a few of the students for dramatic effect. "The Jounin of the Konoha and Federate militaries are the ones you will need to worry about. The policy first and foremost is to shoot first, ask questions later. Try to dispose of them before they even see you; you probably won't get another chance. Be on your guard at all times. Some of them can levitate your weapon right from its holster. Others have other, far more terrifying abilities."

Before Sasuke could even begin to ascertain what sort of "terrifying" things a Jounin could do to a simple space cadet, the image on the hologram blurred and was replaced by a life-sized replica of a human being, female, with black hair just brushing the shoulders in the front of her vibrant, Federation blues. She had a pouting mouth, heightened by a light sheen of lipstick and soft brown eyes that held a light smile.

"This is Hinata Hyuga. She's stationed currently in the Yukigakure System, which happens to be adjacent to the Amegakure System by the way. You may meet her in battle. Now, now, don't get too excited, gentlemen. She's as dangerous as she is pretty, and she's rising faster in the ranks by the day. We use the ancient Senju system to gauge the power of a specific Jounin's Chakra on a scale from one to one hundred. Hinata here rises up the scale at a solid seventy-five, meaning that she can perform nearly three-quarters the abilities her ancestors could. You do not want to get near a person like that. Military-wise, she's relatively manageable, but not in a couple of years. Get that woman some experience and another promotion, and you've got one dangerous Jounin on your hands, and that's a fact. I recommend memorizing her face."

Sasuke was already studying her features intently, committing every line and hair to memory. Her soft curves were masked slightly by her flight suit, which was plain and simple except for a few stars on her right shoulder. Sasuke blinked a few times and scrutinized further. He'd seen that uniform before.

Her image blurred and faded. Next appeared a man very similar in stature and appearance as Hinata, though decidedly masculine and broader in width. "This is Neji Hyuga, Hinata's brother. He's a level eighty-four Jounin, not to be underestimated…"

Sasuke found himself tuning the starbred man out, his mind searching anxiously to where he had seen the uniform Hinata was wearing before. Half a memory dredged up from just over a subconscious level began to plague the Uchiha prince. He prided himself on knowing every single Federate and Konoha uniform, but why did this one evade him so? Ah!

Sasuke's mind raced back to the incident over a year ago, when he had glanced for an instant at the Konoha Leader's guard, who'd been wearing the same uniform that Hinata and now Neji wore proudly in their holograms. Sasuke hadn't easily forgotten the consequences of that fateful day in the winter of last year, which had resulted in two months of blurred memory due to the severe amount of Manda he'd been subjected to. Sasuke remembered now the guard he had seen standing among the rest of the Federate forces in the council chambers that he and Sakura had spied on— the Colonel, if he recalled correctly.

"Listen up, ladies and gentlemen," Roushi said, his voice lowering and getting more serious. Neji's face blurred and was replaced with a younger man's figure. Sasuke almost gasped aloud. The man himself! Though the person before him was somewhat changed— he didn't look quite as young as he had before, the face broader and more defined—but it could be no other. He possessed the same commanding posture, tan skin, chiseled jawline and abnormally bright blonde hair that rebelliously flashed like sunlight through the hologram's projector. The eyes were lost slightly in the light beam, but Sasuke couldn't pretend to forget those strange blue orbs that had wrapped him up so quickly, it had felt like drowning in the ocean. He could hardly believe that such a man was…

"Bad news," Roushi was saying while shaking his head, half in awe, half in fear. "This is Naruto Uzumaki, operational commander and the Special Task Force Leader for all the Jounin of Konoha. They have a special title for bad boys like this guy: _Hokage_. He has a Senju level of ninety-nine, the highest Chakra level anyone has seen in over five hundred years. He has no current permanent station. Don't even try to get close enough to this guy to recognize him. If you do, I suggest following through with your Seppuku orders and taking yourself out before he wipes you clean. You see the stars on his shoulder?— Eight of them, not four, right?— That's the sign of his Hokage rank; he's the first starbred descendant the Federation has ever considered for the rank of a general or higher." He indicated to the marks with a pointed finger. "This is the kind of elite warrior they send of missions no one else can accomplish. So take my advice, Misslings: if you see this guy, you run like hell."

Sasuke once again returned his full attention to the hologram, studying Uzumaki's face and finding himself admitting that the projection did him little justice.

"He's cute," whispered a girl from the back, a giggle escaping her lips.

Roushi's explosive reaction startled them all. "If that's all you can think about, Yakushi, get out of here. Out! My time is too valuable to waste on giggly Misslings that anybody can play with and no one will ever marry!"

Sasuke sat in stunned silence with the rest of the class and felt the hatred for Roushi exponentially grow in less than a few seconds.

"Go ahead hate me!" Roushi spat. "I can feel it. The fact is, I'll probably be alive next year, and a good half of you won't! Come back tomorrow, and I'll show you something that will keep you alive for maybe a week or two longer!" With that outburst he dove for the door, intentionally leaving the lights off to prevent any particularly murderous Missling from slaughtering him before he could find cover.

From behind him, Sasuke mentally envisioned Yakushi's crumpled expression of horror and heard her crying into her own fingers. He felt a stab of genuine pity for the girl. She had received her Seppuku orders not more than a few days ago, a simple request that she dispose of herself as quickly as possible. She would die as well as the rest of them when they mounted up for the invasion in the coming weeks, but if she somehow lived long enough to survive the first invasion, she would be given a blade and time to herself. Either way, for a Missling it was a short road ahead. Sasuke could almost taste the end, and he had to stifle the bile clawing its way up his bobbing throat.

Around her, a few of her friends held her close, attempted to console the girl, but Sasuke found he could take no more. He rose from his chair, determined to stretch his legs and banish the image of Yakushi's dilapidated emotional state from his mind. As always, Sakura followed him out the room, grabbing the fabric of his sleeve like a crutch and holding it tightly. He could tell she was disturbed beyond words, but neither of them could find the strength to express it.

Sasuke stopped finally when he reached the Academy's outer courtyard, halting mid stride just in front of a babbling water fountain, which somehow kept cycling water despite the frigid temperatures. He had been content to stand before the water and focus only on the sound of the drops hitting the fountain's stone base and cascading down into the incandescent pool below, but Sakura pulled him slightly farther so they both sat on the aging stone's edge. The fountain depicted Obito Uchiha, one of Sasuke's favorite ancient rulers of Otogakure. A fifth generation descendant, Sasuke thought he greatly resembled Obito, if only slightly in the jaw line and rebellious hair. Sasuke's parents, when they had been alive, had governed their peoples according to the methods of the young king, valuing truth, justice, anti-corruption, and freedom over the strictly enforced, sometimes brutal policies other kings held previously. But Sasuke had no desire to think of his parents now, his mood already so sullen that dredging up old memories might make him break in front of Sakura. Things had changed so dramatically since his parents' reign that it was hardly worth thinking of anymore. Obito stood over the fountain, recklessly holding his head up high and smiling brightly at the Academy before him, hands on his hips in a conquering pose. He appeared fearless and untainted, and Sasuke found he had to glance away in shame. Obito had been king, not some Missling.

Not disposable.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

He didn't reply but took comfort in her constant presence. Sasuke had faced a great deal of his life in solitude, shouldering the responsibilities of his studies, his rank, his position as a member of the Electorate, and his soon to be new position as a captain in the Otogakure Naval Forces, alone. He received little to no attention from his uncle or his pair of unruly cousins. Sakura, however, had always been the strength he could fall back on. She offered her time and companionship freely and hardly ever asked anything in return, despite his moody disposition and often taciturn interludes.

Sasuke slowly watched as other, non-Missling students passed them by, chatting amiably and largely ignoring him and Sakura, despite their close proximity. Sasuke and Sakura were more often together than not on the Academy grounds, and in the past three years, Sasuke found most of his happiest days had been spend in the company of the strawberry-blonde haired girl, who now smiled sadly at him. In return he wordlessly scooted closer to her.

He'd lived a good life, he mused silently to himself. He'd lived rich, in a palace no less, surrounded by every luxury. He'd received an education that only princes could afford, he had Sakura and other people he deemed his friends and comrades. He knew he was also largely admired and respected even among the older generation of the noble class. This fact was revealed to him one night during a ball when one of the elder magistrates had lamented rather loudly about the "order of succession being seriously inverted from what it should be!" The look on Orochimaru's face at the time still brought a reckless smile to Sasuke's normally stagnant lips.

Yes, Sasuke had had it difficult at times as well, but he had no complaints. He desperately wished that Otogakure might remember him for the bravery and loyalty with which he faced his destiny, at the end of his life. It was all he could hope for with the invasion into the Amegakure System not ten days away.

Amegakure. Very few of Otogakure's inhabitants, even the cadets about to fight in the war, knew the true reason for the invasion of the small planet. 'Aggressive expansion' had been High King Madara's selling campaign, as he promised the Otogakure System the greatest growth the chain of planets had experienced in the past thousand years. Sasuke knew that there was something going on underneath all of it, though. The First Prince had never been so closely involved in politics until a few years ago. Coincidentally, he'd had his strange labs, places Sasuke knew existed on his home planet's outskirts but had never seen, installed all over the city and funded excellently with tax credits. Sasuke often inquired about these strange labs, but everyone he asked denied their existence but with a strange simper in their features, as if they had been paid off well to keep their mouths shut about it.

Sasuke had then taken the time to study Amegakure in detail, looking into old files and scanbooks in the Academy library for hours on end. The planet was small, its inhabitants marginally smaller than Otogakure, but they knew little about militaristic tactics, though they possessed an adequate sum of fighters. Amegakure was known mostly for its mining properties, famous for its hefty supply of precious jewels and rather dangerous gasses. Other than that, Sasuke could find nothing in books that would set aside Amegakure as a planet Orochimaru would want to exploit. That was until some months ago, while receiving another punishment at the hands of the Akatsuki for violating curfew, one of them had let slip Orochimaru's fascination with a new chemical called Tenojin which was located deep in the core of Amegakure's planetary structure. With great difficulty, Sasuke discovered that several shipments had been imported onto Otogakure in the past few weeks, but at great expense to the planetary trust fund.

Going to war must have been decided a cheaper route.

Sasuke shook his head. He'd been unable to find anything out about it since, but it irked him somewhat to know that he might die for the sake of one of Orochimaru's experimental projects. It also frightened him that when he died, his influence, however small, would be lost over the Electorate. Whatever tiny resistance could be offered would be eliminated along with the light of Sasuke's life.

"Sasuke?" Sakura whispered again, and this time he turned toward the girl. She seemed like she had something to say, her lips parted and her eyes slightly troubled. She must have lost her nerve, for her gaze lowered and she said, "Nothing. I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat before we have to report to class again."

**And there you have it. Chapter One. This isn't a Sakura/Sasuke story, just to let you know. But I like Sasuke. I want to develop him. He's quite my own in this story, with little hints of his cannon character spliced throughout. **

**Anyway, tell me what you think.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Another installment— of course, it took so long to do it. Lord, it sure must not be a lot to read, but it was a lot to write. Enjoy of course. **

**Chapter 2**

**Fire Hawk**

Sasuke didn't know what kind of terrible curiosity inspired him to return the following day to the debriefing room, same as before. Surprisingly, Sakura was already sitting and waiting for him in their customary seat. Her face was pale and ashen, her lips neatly pursed. The moment she saw him, he was relieved that a bit of color returned to her face.

"Sasuke," she said warmly, taking him by the arm and sitting him next to her. Sakura had an affinity for touching. She loved to caress, hug, stroke, poke, anything as long as it was her arms extending toward him. He didn't blame her for it, however. Her entire life, Sakura was branded as a Missling, unlike Sasuke who had stepped into the status when he was nearing his teens. Sakura's family was too afraid to get close to her, fearing the pain of eventually having to ask their daughter to die would be too great for them. Therefore she was treated with a mild neglect in her household, always had been. She had never in her life received a loving touch from anyone in her entire family. Sasuke could see clearly that it was the reason she always clung to him so desperately, needy for the attention her parents should have given her. Sasuke acknowledged easily that Sakura was his closest friend, and even if he found all the touching to be slightly invasive, he would endure it gladly if she stayed beside him. And she always did.

"Momo Hakudo was issued her Seppuku orders last night," she said. Sasuke's throat clogged for a moment, and he thought he might choke. Sakura's grip on his arm tightened. "I heard she asked for an extension, until the siege. That will be it for her, unless she runs like Takeshi and Kira…" She buried her face in the side of his uniform, and Sasuke closed his eyes in humbled grief. Hakudo was a close friend to Sakura and one of the few girls who had impressed Sasuke with her intelligence and ability. Not wanting to adhere to the Missling class, Hakudo had been stubborn and applied for a doctor's job in Otogakure's primary hospital, hoping that perhaps if she obtained success that her family would let her live. Last week, she'd been assigned to handle the medical ward for the invasion task force. This week, she'd been reassigned as a pilot, despite having minimal training. Flying had never been Hakudo's expertise, and now the girl would more than likely suffer an untimely and shameful demise due to some form of accident rather than at the hands of the enemy. The cruelty with which the heirs operated now shocked Sasuke into bitter emotional withdraw, and he fought to restrain mutinous feelings from forming into true thoughts. No one deserved such a death, especially not a woman as talented as Hakudo.

"Would she run?" Sasuke asked at length.

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know. Some part of me hopes she really will. Some part of me almost wants to join her if she does."

Sasuke turned to look down at her, his eyes softening. He thought for a moment he would encourage her to run, run like hell and never look back. But he and Sakura had often had that conversation: whether or not they would run when their time was up.

It was possible to run. They could leave to the Federacy, even another planetary system not controlled by the Otogakure and change their names, find simple employment, try to forget the past and just _live_. Perhaps Sakura would have gone through with it if Sasuke hadn't been so stubborn. It was pure, unadulterated pride that prevented Sasuke's exodus from Otogakure and certain death. His pride as an Uchiha would not allow him to turn and run from his destiny. He didn't mind dying as long as it was honorable and somehow benefited his home. Sakura wouldn't go anywhere without him. Therefore they were stuck.

"We could run," she said into his chest. "Have you ever thought about it seriously, Sasuke? We could live a normal life. Marry. Raise a…"

"Family?" Sasuke supplied with a snort.

"Yes," she whispered, clutching his shoulder and raising her head so their eyes met. "A family, Sasuke. A real one. I like children."

He found himself completely lost staring into her eyes, the only light in his shadow-riddled existence, and almost considered it. For just a moment, he entered the forbidden notion of desertion and of posterity, which had both been unattainable to any Missling no matter the rank. It seemed so petty that royalty be denied the thing that any peasant could do. Misslings were forbidden from romance, and if caught in the act of procreation of any kind would be sentenced to death without a trial. Some things were absolute. Some things one couldn't run from no matter how hard he tried.

"Children are for heirs," he spat. It had come out far more bitterly than he had anticipated, but Sakura didn't take it to heart. She knew him best, could sense his feelings on the subject and for a long moment only held him close and simply understood. Here was Sakura's finest point. She would let it be.

"You know what I regret the most?" she whispered at last.

Sasuke felt his chest tightened and he wrapped an arm over her shoulder. They didn't have much time. Soon the class would fill with people, but he felt that he needed to hear every word, drink up every fantasy she voiced because he knew he would be unable to express himself as always. "What?"

"I'll never see the systems of the universe, Sasuke. Can you imagine the sky in the Mizugakure? All lit up with stars every night? The closest I'll get is the atmosphere of Amegakure, before my ship disintegrates into tiny bits."

Sasuke felt his muscles tighten and he shut his eyes against the thought. "Don't say-"

"Sasuke, do you remember the day you told me you loved me?" Sakura said at once.

A rush of air flooded out of the room after the sliding glasteel door buzzed to life and allowed a half dozen of their peers into their classroom, leaving Sasuke to merely sit and stare in dumb silence down at her. She for once did not back down but faced him with a small smile. She gave him a squeeze and released herself from his grasp, leaning over the desk to say a cheerful good morning to their classmates.

Sasuke found himself so disturbed over Sakura's strange antics as well as the news from this morning that he could only nod slightly in response to the another Missling's "Good morning, Sasuke!" Sakura didn't seem to notice his discomfort, and he could only pull his mind from her strange words when Roushi once again walked through the door, as eager as ever to appear completely in charge.

He barely gave the class time to quiet before he rapped his hands smartly on the desk in front of him, scaring one of the girls sitting there half to death. He cleared his throat and grinned at the wide eyes staring back at him. "I'll skip the pleasantries, since I know that none of you are happy to see me here."

And he launched right in. "The Jounins have developed a technique that I mentioned yesterday. It has made the Konoha System that much more powerful if not critical to the Federation. They call it mind-access interrogation, or Genjutsu in the Konoha tongue."

Sakura was already down to business, Sasuke saw from the corner of his eye. She quickly made a note in her scan disk before looking back up to Roushi.

"The technique does not damage the mind of the victim, like many of the traditional interrogative chemicals used in the first great galactic wars, yet it is twice if not three times as effective. It enables the user's chakra to enter an individual's thoughts and memories and find out everything you know, if the Jounin in particular has enough innate ability and if he can plant the correct suggestion."

"Suggestion?" a student asked from behind Sasuke.

"An illusion," Roushi corrected. "The user will first need access to your mind by successfully creating an illusion that your mind perceives to be true. While your mind is preoccupied in the illusion, they begin the search for information."

A terrified rumble made its way through the room.

"There is a way to resist access," Roushi continued, "but you must concentrate on something _totally_ irrelevant yet concrete enough for your mind to latch onto: your favorite color, the back of your boots. Whatever images you can hold clearly in your mind. If you can maintain this image or thought process, the illusion the Jounin is attempting to place over you can be overrode but only if you keep on your own train of thought. Any seemingly random intrusion into your thoughts is more than likely a Jounin illusion."

He paused and scanned the room for possible victims, his eyes resting sinisterly on Sasuke. "Shall we demonstrate for them, Uchiha?"

Sasuke stiffened slightly. The idea of linking minds with Roushi or anyone else for that matter repulsed him. His thoughts had been his one solace throughout life, and having them invaded by the oily Roushi left a bad taste in his mouth. However, he could not deny the potential usefulness of a resistance technique that could assist against the enemy. He straightened and nodded. Roushi approached with a smile and placed his hands around Sasuke's face, pinkies locked just under the young man's jawline.

Roushi repositioned himself slightly on top of Sakura's desk. "Alright, Uchiha, brace yourself. I'm going to try to find out your favorite food."

Sasuke focused on the color of Roushi's beard, a Totally Irrelevant Brown, but slowly found his thoughts drifting. The sensation began like a prickle on the back of his neck, spreading through his jaw until he was sure Roushi could feel it through his fingers. The sensation was so pungent and invasive that Sasuke found himself slightly panicking in the force of his own disgust until he saw a box of red, swollen tomatoes and the happy face of one of the palace maids handing him one.

"Too easy," Roushi said triumphantly. "Tomatoes, right? You'll have to work harder than that if you want to resist the power of a Jounin. How about you, Haruno?"

As he went through the rest of the room, demonstrating and berating, Sasuke felt his hands unconsciously meet with his left breast pocket. _Why should I bother to learn?_ He thought for a moment. _I'll be unconscious before anyone can interrogate me, and then demised quickly after._ The thought made him swallow some in discomfort, and his hand fell away from his side as Roushi approached again.

"Ready for another round, Uchi_wa_? I'll try to find out your birthday this time."

Sasuke prepared himself as Roushi forced him to look back up into his eyes, his mind focusing in depth on the sensation of flying, inwardly listing off the numbers, positions, and functions of the gears on his T-35 when the prickling sensation began. The T-35's sleek hull and flashing mechanisms filled Sasuke's mind, each individual part of the machine came into his mind with dazzling clarity.

"July 23rd," Roushi said with a smirk. "Thought you were doing well that time didn't you?"

Sasuke mentally sighed in defeat. "But is that the idea?"

The older man nodded. "You have the generality down, no doubt about that. But you're going to have to increase your concentration a hundred fold if you want to resist anyone effectively. I'm told that some of the best cases of resistance against the Jounins have come from the authors of novels surprisingly: People who can effectively keep their mind inside their own head. The Jounin would get a glimpse into that fantasy world of theirs and forget to place an illusion on them. What you have to be careful of is where you direct your thoughts. A Jounin is getting a bird's eye view into your mind when you're being accessed, so try to think of things that personally mean something to you, as long as you don't give away information that could aid the Federation."

Sasuke nodded slowly, and once again Roushi made his rounds. The young Uchiha noted with slight smugness how none of the other Misslings in the room were even close to his prowess at resisting Roushi's illusions, though he was used to that kind of result. Sasuke took extreme pride in his ability as a student, a pilot, and a member of the Otogakure military. He'd been offered positions as a scholar, a doctor, even a politician, but Sasuke had had a love for flying in fighter pilots that he could not explain. There were terribly few things that brought Sasuke true pleasure, and flying was the one he could identify most clearly.

The other, of course, was his penchant for wandering into restricted zones.

That night, Sasuke found himself in one such zone, placed strategically around the outer partition of the palace walls. Sasuke had found it one night when he was barely thirteen, when he'd accidentally fallen from climbing down his bedroom window on a night when he'd been restricted to his quarters. He'd fallen surprisingly on one of the adjacent walls, teetering over the edge slightly before tumbling into a crack just in between the inner sphere of the palace courtyard and the outer cobbled-stone square. He'd followed the narrow corridor, rock wall on each side of him and positioned so tightly that at some points he had to turn himself to fit. He soon was met with a maze of stone and towering hedges on either side, not hard to navigate but stretching on for at least a half-kilometer. Sasuke remembered being told repeatedly as a child to never venture into the Uchiha maze by himself. It was ancient and not used for entertainment any longer, despite its structured beauty and elegant curve, which now had grown almost rampant with weeds and other matters of plant life. The labyrinth intrigued Sasuke, who even at his young age found little to amuse himself.

Now at the peak of his life, Sasuke found himself padding the long corridors of the labyrinth, not thinking of the destination but the journey itself. He'd had to force himself to be mindful of making his time worthwhile, since he was given so little. With his doom leering before him, Sasuke made his way down the strange paths of the maze, his head swimming. He'd not come down this path in years.

The labyrinth opened at long last to a small plot of land, a memorial carved out of pure marble. It was a solid blue in color, but years of mistreatment had left it a stark gray and crumbling in the places where it had once been its most sharp. There were two names carved with elegant hand into the polished surface, but Sasuke couldn't bear to look at them.

Beside the stone was a few well-placed benches, a gurgling fountain with an angel folding elegant hands over her breasts in an embracing gesture, and two symmetrically placed sets of rose bushes, also left in disarray.

Such was the resting place of the previous Uchiha royal family.

Sasuke swallowed and continued onward from the resting grounds, walking a little further until he was met with the shadow of the palace. In a corner, almost pushed off to the side like a lavatory that was necessary to have but unsightly nonetheless, was a single slab of stone, white and plain, a name carved into it with the same elegant lettering.

_Itachi Uchiha_

Sasuke lowered his head and decided to be as brief as possible, lest he be driven to sheer hysterics. "I'm only here…" He cleared his throat. "I'm only here because you always said it was rude for people to call without announcing they were coming first."

A whistle of wind blew a stream of cherry blossom petals through the air around Sasuke's face. In the next moment, they died where they once flew and landed on Sasuke's black boots, hissing by his ears on the way down.

"I'm coming."

Two weeks after the Jounin Debriefing, Sasuke reported to the Otogakure command base, fully suited for interplanetary war, his black and red helmet rested easily against one hip while the startup codes for his T-35 were firmly grasped in the opposite hand. Sasuke had received his orders, and even for a Missling, they were severe. His recent trespass into the Old Uchiha burial grounds had apparently not gone without some scrutiny, for the next morning, Sasuke was once again put under house arrest for encroaching upon restricted grounds without a permit. Now Sasuke reflected as he stared bleakly at his crew's position in the upcoming battle— a first strike force with outdated equipment and a slim chance of success— the decision to visit his brother's grave one last time might have been a small mistake.

"Well, Captain?"

_Captain._ Sasuke stifled a smile. Jugo Tenbin stood at attention next to an older officer who'd addressed him. Sasuke recognized the veteran as a kindly man, who had often assisted Sasuke in his extracurricular enthusiasm for star fighters. He recalled briefly that he might have been related to Jugo but couldn't quite be sure.

"What's the damage?" Jugo asked quietly. Despite being built the size of a giant, Jugo somehow had the most serene countenance Sasuke had ever witnessed in the Missling class. There were often cases of Misslings being born nervous, constantly reminded of their approaching deaths, but Jugo seemed to be the reverse of the case, so calm and collected that even Sasuke admired his emotional stability. Jugo wore similar attire to Sasuke, though without the captain's rubies embedded into the fabric on his shoulders as Sasuke had.

"First strike," Sasuke said grimly, handing the small nav-disk to his second in command and watching the flicker of surprise pass over Jugo's features.

"You must have angered the Electorate again, Sasuke."

He shrugged. "I look at it as more of a farewell gift from my cousin." _Orochimaru always was one to finish a task quickly _he thought wryly.

Jugo nodded his assent to this bit of information as if he were agreeing to the weather being pleasant and not the Crown Prince and future king of Otogakure illegally tampering with military documents in order to kill his own family member. Sasuke found Jugo's sense of calm to suddenly be invaluable.

The taller man bowed lightly, reporting that he would see to it that the rest of the squad were prepped and ready for battle.

Sasuke nodded his consent and watched Jugo retreat to the main hangar where he knew the rest of his team waited for instructions. Sakura would be among them. He was grateful that they had been placed together, but Sasuke was sure that whoever had done that little placement certainly wasn't trying to do him any favors.

"Sasuke."

He turned to the man who had spoken, the older veteran.

"Are you ready to make your final preparations for takeoff? You'll need to run a systems diagnostic."

Sasuke nodded and was surprised by the strange sense of anticipation and not fear that flooded his system. The man must have sensed it as well, for he smiled and clapped Sasuke on the shoulder. "You're a fine pilot, Uchiha. I hope to God you survive this and come back. Any of your team that does, I'll make sure lives a little longer, understand? You'd be surprised how many of the higher ups here think the Electorate is losing their goddamn minds in letting a talented kid like you do this."

Sasuke once again kept his silence, dipping his head in respect to his elder. He couldn't quite find the words to express his gratitude, especially at the promise the man had made regarding his crew, but the veteran seemed to understand him fine.

"Well, go on then."

"Yes, sir."

Sasuke's flight suit and coveralls were the perfect size, though a little warm when he felt the hot blast of the hangar's air tanks as he entered the main docking ramp. All around him, in their sleeper positions, sat Sharingans, from the ancient T-32s to the beautifully crafted 11-90s he'd only flown before in simulators. Sasuke neared his own vessel, his eyes sweeping the sleek craft with a judgmental eye as an experimental hand flicked up and down the line of the hull. It was a black and red vessel, white captain's marks painted down the wings in two elegant curves that snaked to the stern and circled back around again.

Sasuke's crew chief came from behind him, murmuring a series of codes into his headset before nodding to Sasuke once. Twenty-one minutes remained until their departure. The craft carrier would leave hyperspace in ten, and the ships would be in the atmosphere of the Amegakure system in twenty-five. Sasuke swallowed slightly.

"Starboard laser engine," the crew chief called to him.

Sasuke caressed the outer barrel of the engine, finding no external abnormalities before checking inside the lens.

"Clear." He had no tremble in his voice, despite his mounting excitement. Sasuke was acutely aware of his position as a captain. He had to convince even the tech crew that he was in no way anxious or emotionally unstable. That would merely dishearten his squad.

"Shield antennae, particle, slip," the attendant said tonelessly.

He mounted the cockpit and surveyed the small bunker behind the rear console where the shield antennae was located and again found no abnormalities. He ran a hand experimentally down the silver shift in the vessel's hull, making extra sure his shields were sound. His ship's unit was an acting anchor in an Otogakure battle formation. This generator would release a beam that would travel to the adjacent ships, connecting their outer shields in a supersonic signal that disrupted the fire of enemy ships and essentially made the Otogakure ships impervious to negative fire. In theory of course.

The rest of the check went by without a hitch, and as Sasuke prepared to shut the glasteel panel of his cockpit, he caught sight of Sakura – no _Lieutenant Haruno_ – he reminded himself with a small smile. She seemed to catch him in the same instant, offering him a bright, excited grin and the wave of her hand. Her long strawberry-blonde locks danced rebelliously down her back just before she obscured them with her flight helmet. Now Sakura was a faceless Otogakure soldier, just as Sasuke was. He dawned his helmet as well and closed the cockpit.

Four minutes till launch…

The slate gray sky of Amegakure opened up only slightly and offered pellets of what would be distracting rain if Sasuke did not immediately activate his mircro-wipes, which disintegrated any particles on his glasteel screen before his eyes could register any interference. They dropped into the atmosphere with stunning ease, gliding swiftly into formation, a V-arc with Sasuke's fighter jutting out in the middle.

"Steady, Karin," Sasuke bit through the radio set in his helmet, schematics and information about the planet's terrain whizzing past him in green lettering, his mind taking in the computer's projection of wind conditions and estimations for flight compensation while simultaneously plotting his squad's course of action. The rain had been an unforeseen circumstance, but it did nothing more than force a few of the more inexperienced fighters to concentrate a little more.

Sasuke braced himself mentally for combat.

"Jugo, take the generators, Karin, cut across the ground cannons and attract some fire. Sakura, you're with me across the midline."

The small squad broke formation effortlessly, careening precariously on pockets of once undisturbed air. Sasuke concentrated first on his BV-Screen then perked up on his ocular scanners. A warning beep followed by a small green dot on his screen alerted him to an enemy fighter, then another, then an entire fleet. Amegakure had finally sent reinforcements.

"Look alive, we have company." Sasuke warned. The squad reformed instantly, overlapping shields powered by Sasuke's main generator deflected any spare fire, which unleashed in hot blue bolts the minute they were in range.

"Steady… pull now!" He called, and his squad peeled neatly from the line of fire, double backing around on their attackers and releasing their own steady stream of red blasters into the fray. Sasuke concentrated his fire on the farthest star fighter, one with yellow marks on the wings, which he knew to be the captain's vessel. He hissed as he curved his fighter ever so slightly in mid-air, using enough precision to angle his blast to reach the captain while maintaining his protective formation with his squad. The fighter burst from the inside, main thrusters caught in Sasuke's fire, and imploded to fill the Amegakure with bits of twisted metal and fire. The pilot, Sasuke saw with satisfaction, had deployed his fail-safe before exploding with his craft.

Suigetsu Hozuki, Jugo's wingman, let out a crow of excitement. "Nice shooting, captain!"

"No kills," Sasuke said tersely. "I want downed fighters, not dead men. On my mark."

They unloaded another spasm of fire into the enemy ships, all of which flew in a ragged half-formation that had the Sharingan blaster fire tearing them to paper pieces. Had they perhaps dispersed, there might have been a real fight on his hands, but they feebly attempted to cling together, hoping their shields would remain overlapped enough to protect them. _All they can do against better ships,_ Sasuke thought, biting his lower lip.

Jugo and Sakura shot well, Karin and Suigetsu finishing the last of them before the pass around the Amegakure base was made completely. Suigetsu let out another yell of satisfaction that somehow had Sasuke smiling dryly.

"Good, now we finish the depot," he ordered into the headpiece. The speeders dived at a nearly ninety-degree angle, shooting at attack speed faster than blaster rays. Sasuke felt the rush of his stomach sticking to the edge of his spine and marveled at Sakura's bark of laughter in his ear. Within minutes, the depot was reduced to rubble, and Sasuke optimistically believed for a moment that they might succeed in this little venture. It would have earned him another insignia for his uniform and promotions for his comrades, for Sakura.

Sasuke circled his squad around the depot one last time for before his headset crackled around his ears.

"Captain Fire-Hawk," the voice said tersely. "Be advised: we have three Federation ships entering space on the far side of the planet and bee-lining to your current position. Maintain current orders. I repeat maintain current orders. Be alert out there, Fire-Hawk."

_Fuck,_ Sasuke mentally cursed. _So much for strategic speculation, you asses. "Ame is too distant to defend"? How did they get here so soon?_

Somewhere the strategic analysis had obviously failed. He'd been briefed on Federation equipment; every simulation reported back similarly that Federation fighters would best any single Otogakure attack ship in a dogfight. With Federation superior technology matched against Otogakure numbers, the battle would soon turn grim.

Sasuke fought off a pervading chill. Now would be the time where he would die, somewhere in this battle, lost to ashes on the soil of a planet he had never seen nor touched previously.

He had received his Seppuku orders the previous night, just after the birth of his beautiful baby niece, Orochimaru's second daughter. Orochimaru had himself taken the time from his celebration of his twice-fatherhood to hand Sasuke an elegantly packaged letter that he'd never opened. Sasuke knew what it was without falling into step with his twisted cousin's strange fanfare. Kabuto had appeared slightly disconcerted with the orders but obviously found other amusements to occupy his discomfort long enough to banish it completely. Sakura, as well as the rest of his squad, had not received such orders. If he could somehow maneuver them into a strategic place where retreat would be acceptable, he might buy them a little bit of time to survive till the next battle. Sasuke's left breast pocket felt as if it were on fire.

Ridding himself of nervous trembling, Sasuke thought quickly, attempting to find a way to obey his Seppuku orders while saving the lives of his team at the same time. He sprang into action. They had a little time yet before the Federation arrived. "Lock and load, everyone. I want another run past the depot, sixty-two degrees south."

"And what do we do when _they_ get here?" Karin asked, her voice high with fear.

"We make a run for those mountains, lose them in the canyons. Sakura, on my wing. Everyone stay close." The five blood-red arrows darted over the Ame skyline absorbed in the light of the sun as they approached the glowing pinnacles.

"Weaponry storage," Suigetsu said into the headset. Sasuke's eyes flitted below him toward another depot, hidden delicately between two rising mounds of soft earth.

"Good, one more. We'll take it before they get here. Jugo, Karin, direct all fire to the generators, Suigetsu, the fighters in the docking bay. Sakura, with me across the mid again. I want this done in one sweep, no double-checking this time."

They descended once more, attack velocity taking them within firing range in minutes. The place looked relatively abandoned of civilian activity, for which Sasuke was grateful. His orders required him to fire on any and all depots, no matter if occupied or not, but he couldn't stomach the idea of killing unarmed innocent people.

The ships fell upon the depot in an array of blaster fire, and Sasuke felt a swell of pride for his team firing with such accuracy. Soon the poorly camouflaged armory was reduced to smoking rubble, the fighters pulling up to resume their trajectory towards the northern mountain range.

Sakura saw them first. "Sasuke, I got enemy fighters."

Sasuke's eyes darted to his headboard, widening slightly as the green dots seemed to exponentially grow by the second. The Federation had brought more numbers than projected, but they seemed to mingle with other, larger Otogakure squads until six Federation fighters in particular peeled off from the rest and made a beeline for their current position. Their breakneck speed suggested technology far beyond Amegakure capability and Sasuke cursed inwardly.

"Fall in behind me, overlapping formation. We're making a run for it." Their ships lined up close together, their shields synchronizing with Sasuke's generator perfectly. _All we can do against better ships,_ Sasuke thought with the sardonic shaking of his head.

"They're going to fire a missile," Jugo said calmly over the com-link.

"Take it down," Sasuke ordered pithily. He ignored the urge to glance at his screen and ascertain the trajectory of the missile himself. He had to keep the squad together.

"Missile downed," Jugo confirmed a moment later. "They'll have to put some effort into it if they want us."

"Once we get to those mountains, we'll make it harder," Sasuke reminded them. He glanced down once more to his BV board and tracked carefully the six blinking vessels closing in on their position. He swallowed and prepared himself.

Delta Leader of the Federation army navigated the harsh rain of Amegakure easily, his five wingmen falling into formation against his starboard and port wings with effortless precision. He glanced down to another destroyed depot and noted the smoke flitting upward in tunnels of black smoke. "Corporal, call in a medic team; tell them to assist any civilians caught in that attack. Take Takedo with you and report back to the Farragut when you've finished." Two of his squad peeled off from their pristine star-like formation and landed fluidly down in the rubble of the depot. Delta Leader focused his scanners on the remaining five ships ahead of him and set his jaw in a firm line. "Commence fire on my mark."

Sasuke desperately needed maneuvering speed but couldn't coax any out of his squad's ships without breaking formation. Once the enemy ships came within firing range, their very survival would depend on the ability of the shields to disperse enemy fire over the hulls and engines of their ships. Without it, the Federation fighters, with superior speed and maneuverability, would slaughter them. As before, Sasuke hoped if the shields held, he could maneuver his squad back around the enemy and catch them by surprise. It was his only hope of revolving their predators into prey, and he only needed one opening to turn the tables.

There were four Federation ships now, coming in his rear-view as black, sleek fighters, green turrets unleashing a stream of fire across Sasuke's nose: a warning shot. They meant business.

Sasuke ordered a turn and careened the formation slightly, hoping that they would make it the thirty seconds until they reached the canyons of the Ame mountains. But Jugo, on the far end of the formation, saw what Sasuke could not. As their ships turned, banking to nearly be enclosed in the cover of one of the canyons, the Federation cruisers fired, and incredibly, their green lasers began to slowly change color, while focusing solely on Sakura's starboard engine.

"Sasuke, they're _tuning_ those lasers!" he shouted into his headset. "If they hit our slip-shield with that wavelength—"

Sakura's speeder strayed a fraction from the perfect formation. Sasuke swiveled his head around in time to catch her ship imploding in a shower of fire and ash long enough to stretch the entire skyline of Ame's mountain range.

"Sakura's gone!" Karin's scream of horror announced it.

Sasuke for a moment was lost to the battle, lost to Karin's screams of protest and his own boards whining alarms that one in the formation had been completely blown away. Sasuke's heart, body, mind screamed in denial that Sakura Haruno had been erased from existence in a fraction of a second and not even her remains would be left behind. His heart felt ready to explode, his eyes watering despite his fervent attempts to keep his emotions in check.

"Captain!" Jugo's shout brought him out of it, and Sasuke found that he had no time to grieve. Eyes blurring, he veered his ship into a deadly circling arc, deflecting another tirade of now red blasts that would have hit Karin's hull similarly to Sakura's. Sasuke took it in the wing, and his speeder protested loudly against the impact, metal and wire shrieking and tearing to pieces under the hot laser blasts.

"_Move_!" Sasuke bellowed to his squad, covering their rear with his own speeder as they moved into the canyon below and split apart.

Sasuke saw for a brief instance that now the enemy speeders were pulling back, circling around before they entered the canyon to pursue them. Their strategy made absolutely no sense, but Sasuke was happy to take it as another chance. His speeder would not be able to survive another hit like that.

Delta Leader was Jounin. The blood of the ancient Jinchuriki flowed freely through his starbred veins, mixed with that of a powerful Konoha lineage. And his acute concentration had suddenly been broken by a silent scream of grief so powerful that it tore through his mentally enabled shields, and it took him a full three seconds to realize it had originated not in his own mind but from one of the Otogakure enemy fighters.

He glared at the now four glowing sensors on his tag-board. "Delta Squad, cease fire. All craft pull up."

With his normally raised shields and concentrating so heavily on the battle, Delta Leader should not have been able to feel any form of emotional tension, especially at the hundreds of meters that separated him from the Otogakure fighters. He blinked and swallowed a sudden lump in his throat that threatened to bring tears to his eyes. The emotional response that one of the enemy pilots was having was so intense that Delta Leader had to increase the Chakra field around his mind to block the overwhelming sensation of grief. The sheer force of the connection astounded him. Even among other Jounins, this level of connaturality— that is, the level of similar spirituality between Jinchuriki that allowed true metaphysical bonds to form— was unheard of.

That unknown pilot would be well worth capture— but which one? Delta Leader slowly, carefully lowered his Chakra field, allowing the numbing grief to once again enter his soul but on a much smaller level than before. He concentrated, honed in on a single vessel— there! The Captain's vessel had already taken considerable damage in protecting one of his squad members, teetering dangerously with the use of one wing. Delta Leader could feel the tense, uncontrolled emotions of the pilot inside the craft, almost as unstable as the fighter itself but somehow the Otogakure captain had the presence of mind to lead his squad farther into the Ame canyons and into easier cover. Delta Leader made his decisions.

"We want the Otogakure captain's ship. Thirty-two, relay range with the cruiser and request a catch beam immediately at his coordinates. We take the other ships only if necessary, but concentrate on that captain."

Delta Squad voiced agreement, and Delta Leader took his ship into a complex nosedive, his ship whirring in the air as he banked hard toward the captain's shaky vessel.

Sasuke knew when the Federation squad would make their approach next. His team's speeders were no more than a few hundred meters in front of him, slowing considerably from their top speed. Jugo was unwilling to escape without his captain.

"Jugo, into formation with Karin and Suigetsu _now_! If those speeders strike either of you without shields, _we're all dead_! Run for the mountains at full speed. That's an order!"

Delta Leader narrowed his eyes over the horizon, approaching the captain's ship at near breakneck speeds, though the rest of the Otogakure squad was a little close for his comfort. "Thirty-two, scatter the rest of that squad from above, bring them down if you can, but we want the captain, understand?"

Thirty-two moved himself from formation and blasted ahead to the remaining enemy ships.

"Sasuke no!" Karin cried through her speaker, though he could already see their fighters slowly taking formation. "We're not leaving you!"

One of the Federation ships peeled from their star-shaped rank, and Sasuke knew the ship's trajectory, glancing ahead to his team. "Ready for a dive on my mark," Sasuke barked, narrowing his eyes. He had mere seconds and only one shot at this little trick. He hoped he would survive it long enough to see his comrades escape freely.

"Jugo, you're in charge now. You're ordered to assure that your squad returns to base safely. I give you all my best. Dive _now_!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw the Otogakure ships descend abruptly, startling the pilot of the Federation ship enough to make him slow slightly in his trajectory until he was a few hundred meters behind Sasuke, exactly as the young captain had predicted.

Sasuke abruptly hit every single thruster his ship had, the gears, engines, and wiring roaring in audible protest before effectively shattering into pieces. Sasuke's starboard wing burst from his ship in a flying fireball straight for the Federation fighter, who swerved in an unsightly arc to escape the smoldering wreckage. Sasuke was thrown like a ragdoll in the straps of his harness, grasping the console in front of him for some sort of stabilization. Before him, the surface of Amegakure began to grow larger and larger, his ship tilting downward and on a collision course.

Sasuke couldn't bring himself to close his eyes, waiting for the end.

"God _damn_, that captain is crazy!"

Delta Leader's jaw went a little slack at the daring move the captain of the Otogakure ships had made. Even now, Delta Leader could see that the remaining ships disappeared into the canyon, completely obscured from view and safe from any imminent attack. But Delta Leader wanted them gone anyway. His priority was the single ship making a beeline for the earth and certain death, two of his fighters following foolishly in its wake.

"Deltas Two and Nine, disband! If you're caught in that ship's blast, you'll be pulled in along with it! Tell the cruisers to launch the catch-beam _now!_" he demanded into the speaker.

The only solace he found in this entire situation, Sasuke's feverish mind thought, was that he would pay Sakura the highest honor by dying with her. His vessel was nearly a kilometer from the ground. Three seconds and he'd be dead; he wouldn't even feel it. Two seconds later, Sasuke felt an intense jarring that had his head nearly slapping his BV screen with the tip of his nose. The abrupt sensation of stillness made him dizzy until he realized he was careening backwards.

_No…_

Sasuke could almost see the individual cracks in the rock face below his fighter; death had been a mere hundred meters away, now two hundred, now three. Sasuke cursed and mashed the controls on his speeder, attempting to estimate his trajectory. Another guttural curse followed as he realized he was being reeled in like a fish to the Federation cruiser looming just outside Amegakure's atmosphere.

He leaned back in his harness, closing his eyes. The packet of concentrated Manda in his breast pocket burned, and Sasuke knew his duty. Before he could be brought in for interrogation, it was his responsibility to ingest the Manda and wait until the poison took him. He reached for it with two fingers and ripped it open in the next second. The Manda had been condensed, not in its injectable liquid form, which Sasuke was far too familiar with, and looked to be in the shape of crystals rather than powder. It would be terrifying to await unconsciousness. Sasuke had long been faced with his own death, but he had always assumed he'd have someone else dispose of him, not take his own life. He hated suicide more than anything; it was the final defeat.

The tractor beam held his ship firmly in its grasp, pulling Sasuke slowly toward the Federation cruiser. No, Sasuke could not live long enough to be interrogated. The young captain quickly opened the spare compartment hatches, disposing of every bit of extra material his speeder had. The catch beam caught the items as well, but Sasuke noticed a significant decrease in its tug. He had a little more time now.

With a curse, he realized that his blaster and a quicker death had been in those compartments.

Sasuke closed his eyes, rolling the beads of Manda in his fingers. Damn Orochimaru and his experiments. His treacherous cousin's obsession with the chemicals hidden in the Amegakure soil was the reason for this entire war in the first place! What a horrid reason to die!

But he knew better than to expect anything less. He'd lived a good life, he reminded himself. And now that Sakura was…

No, he had no reason to go on without her.

All at once, Sasuke threw the Manda into his right palm, licking up every last bit of the deadly poison and coughing as it dried his throat instantly on the way down. He dawned his helmet once more, finding some semblance of comfort within the constant stream of schematics lining the screen of the blast shield.

Because he was dying— he could feel his limbs grow sluggish, his thoughts slow— he allowed himself a small, forbidden thought: of Itachi. His brother, a person Sasuke couldn't bear to think of without tears coming to his eyes. They surprisingly didn't come now, but that could be the Manda taking its effect. A swirl of old memories assailed his mind, some pleasant, comforting, warm: hide and seek in the gardens, wrestling on the palace rugs, nestling in his lap when he was tired.

Itachi was dead.

"Brother, I'm coming," Sasuke said as he bowed his head. "I hope your ready for me."

He waited.

**So death really is the end of Sasuke's existence….. perhaps?**

**We'll find out next time, won't we?**


	4. Chapter 3

**Recap: **

**Sakura dispatched permanently against the cruel, rainy skies of the rainy planet of Amegakure, Sasuke had resolved to sacrifice himself by drawing the enemy's fire in order to save the rest of his squad from certain destruction at the hands of the Federate forces. His ship nearly destroyed, Sasuke was plunging headlong into the planet's surface when he was abruptly caught in the catch field of the Federate command ship floating just outside of Amegakure's atmosphere. **

**Caught, Sasuke says a final farewell to the life he'd known and ingests a packet of concentrated Manda poison.**

**On board his own vessel, Delta Leader of the command forces of the Federation eagerly awaits the opportunity to meet the exceptional pilot inside the Otogakure fighter. **

**Chapter 3.**

**Jounin**

A few minutes after catching the Otogakure captain successfully in the Federation tractor field, Delta Leader docked inside the _Hidden Leaf_, Konoha's largest and most powerful cruiser, with a second catch field to assist him.

Delta Leader could still feel the intriguing pull of emotion from the captain's cockpit, though it had ebbed slightly with the passing minutes. With a wry smile, he saw the scattered remains of the captain's cargo hold, now crashing to the docking bay's black floor as gravity in the ship's artificial atmosphere stabilized. The captain was crafty, he decided. The cargo hold ploy had slowed his ascent into the _Hidden Leaf _by at least ten minutes, long enough for Delta Leader to secure himself in his own catch beam and return to the docking bay around the same time.

Delta Leader growled slightly under his breath, impatient to see his captive face to face, but he was forced to wait for the green light, reporting the air breathable to humans. A docking bay subordinate clothed in a helmeted spacesuit quickly ran across the underside of his vessel, triggering the Delta fighter's cockpit hatch to open.

Instantly, Delta Leader swung his whole body from the cockpit and fell gracefully the two or three meters from his craft to the floor, jogging to the captured vessel.

"No movement from the inside," the subordinate said as a small device in his hands scanned the machine. He removed his helmet, revealing a scruffy mane of black hair and a line of stubble around his jaw. "But we can find no detonation devices inside the vessel, so we know he's not planning some sort of suicide killing. In fact we've estimated that the pilot must have turned everything off in there, because we can barely detect any electronic signals of any kind."

Delta Leader's face wrinkled in confusion for an instant. "No electric signals, no life forms?"

The subordinate shook his head.

"Open the hatch."

"Sir, we haven't run a—"

"_Open_ it," Delta Leader hurried his pace, approaching the underside of the vessel. Reaching into the holster on his left boot, he withdrew a shock pistol and held it at the ready. A light hiss of steam jutted from the cracks of the cockpit bubble as it flew upward; for a tense moment, nothing moved.

"I think he's unconscious," the subordinate remarked casually.

Delta Leader grabbed a metal handhold and swung himself upward onto the ship. Holstering the pistol quickly, he reached down into the cockpit to grab the pilot's limp body. Not unconscious, he thought in horror.

He pulled off the enemy captain's blood-red flight helmet and was met with a rush of charcoal hair that danced just past his fingertips. _My god, he's just a kid! _A rambling eye caught the flutter of paper on the floor-deck. "Get a medical crew down here, Haru. He's poisoned himself."

"What!" Haru exclaimed, pulling out a communications device and plugging in the necessary codes to alert medical. The older man glanced to the side and also beheld the captain. "He's so young, no older than my son. These Otogakure types give me the creeps, sending a kid into battle."

"You should have seen him fly," Delta Leader murmured, staring for a moment into the face. He noted with a nervous swallow how truly stunning the boy was: the pointed nose, high cheekbones, a firm jawline that contrasted with boyish eyelashes and brows.

As the subordinate hurriedly spoke into his interlink, Delta Leader pulled the limp body from the craft and jumped down to the _Leaf's_ glossy deck, cradling the boy in his arms. The boy's frame was thin enough to feel weightless. Brushing soaked black hair from an equally damp face, he rested him on one knee, disturbed by how similar his lifelessness was to a ragdoll. As a Jounin, Delta Leader could tell the minute he saw the boy that his heart had stopped minutes ago, no breath coming from the ashen lips. However, it was because he was a Jounin that the ability to revive the boy was not beyond his reach. He closed his eyes and reached within himself to find the source of his power: the teeming mass of chakra that bubbled in a fierce red light, swirling around and converging with his very soul. He could almost touch it with his mind's eye, allowing it to pass from his heart and into his hands. Delta Leader then slowly placed a palm on the boy's chest, focusing on spurring the heart back into beating. He could feel the poison in the captain's veins, slowing his Chakra by only milliseconds but thicker than he would have liked. Delta Leader was finally able to touch the boy's heart, sending a burst of Chakra directly into its core.

He was exquisitely aware with the boy's will, which struggled desperately against his and sought to fly from this world into the next. It held a sweet tenor, both angrily rebellious and tantalizingly submissive, laced with a pride that Delta Leader could feel swell within his own heart as the transference deepened.

Despite his strange internal connection to the boy, at first he was granted with no response, and a sickening feeling swam in the pit of his stomach. He had to try another four times, grappling against the boy's will for control, before he felt the sputter of life in his chest. By that time, the medics, carrying with them ultradialysis equipment, had arrived. One of them unceremoniously cut the boy from his flight suit, leaving a creamy pale body in nothing more than his undergarments, which not surprisingly were military standard and designed for the flight suit. Delta Leader firmly grasped the boy's arm as he was lifted in a hover-gurney, willing his heart to continue pumping, despite the tar-like poison clogging his veins. It circulated, almost making another round through the boy's system before being intercepted by the dialysis tubes that were plugged into his neck and wrists, filtering his blood of the harmful toxins.

The medical crew focused on the machine's glaring red light, alerting them to the boy's critical state, and only relaxed when it dimmed to a hazy yellow then extinguished.

"He's out of danger for now, but he'll be unconscious for awhile," one of them told Delta Leader. "What do you want us to do with him?"

Delta Leader, suddenly exhausted from the mental strain, rubbed a sweaty palm over his face and heaved a sigh. "Put him in medical bay, in a sick bed. I want him under shackles and a restraining field. He'll be suicidal, medic. Don't lose him."

The medic acknowledged his superior with a slight bow and pushed the hover-gurney down the adjacent corridor to the sick bay.

Delta Leader stared intently until the medical team disappeared with their newly-revived charge. That face— he _knew_ that boy. Searching the recesses of his memory, he commandeered a shuttle that would take him to the command deck.

"We've taken a prisoner, Nara, a kid," Naruto said as he sipped a cup of strong tea from silver bowl. He'd needed it to rejuvenate after his strain over the captain. They stood in the _Hidden Leaf's_ central command center, the light from the many technical engineer's screens illuminating both Delta Leader's and Shikaku Nara's faces in a cool blue glow. Shikaku Nara was presiding commander of the entire ship, and he raised a dark eyebrow in response to Delta Leader's report.

"A kid?" he questioned.

"He seemed young, no older than twenty I'm sure, but he bears Captain's colors. He tried to kill himself upon capture."

Nara whistled lowly. "A kid who's a captain? That's quite a rare occurrence in a military as famous as Otogakure's. Well, Delta, you're the highest-ranking Jounin aboard this ship. Do you want to interview the kid yourself?"

Delta Leader suppressed the intense jovial thrill pulsating through his chest and schooled his face into a thoughtful yet indifferent mask. "Yes, I would."

That was exactly what he wanted.

Several hours after the deadly dose of Manda was successfully filtered from his system, Sasuke began his slow climb to full consciousness. At first he felt around, searching eagerly for new sensations of the afterlife.

But the sounds around him were muffled, too business-like and mundane, and suddenly he felt that he ached all over, especially in his chest and shoulders. These were not sensations of the afterlife. Sasuke fought not to panic. His worst, his very worst, fears had been affirmed. He'd somehow survived his self-poisoning and was now a prisoner of the Federation. A light beeping activated to his left, and before he could even think, his hand reached of its own accord and silenced the light and sound, cutting off power by disconnecting the console from its jack in the side of the instrument.

Sasuke's eyes then opened, bright cream walls and a similarly colored bed confirming what he'd suspected: he was caught. The nursing staff had heard the beeps from the machine that he now saw was connected the pulse on his left arm. More than likely it was some sort of device that alerted the medics that a patient had regained consciousness.

His vision swimming and his hands unsteady, Sasuke nonetheless attempted to find anything sharp or deadly in his hospital room. He nearly fell clumsily off the side of his bed when he reached to an adjacent shelf where he was sure at least one scalpel would be stored. He flicked the cabinets open and nearly sliced his own hand on the naked end of a small knife, which he grabbed quickly and pulled into the sheets with him. The nurse entered the sliding door in the next second, followed closely by the doctor.

"Hana, you were told to put a restraining field around this one!" the doctor exclaimed to the nurse as he beheld Sasuke's upright figure. Before Sasuke could offer a word of protest, the doctor pushed a tiny green button, and a weight descended on Sasuke's chest so violently that the wind was knocked out of him. It appeared to be too much for his newly conscious body, because in the next second he was out.

Sasuke didn't know how long it was before he regained consciousness once more, but when he did, he eagerly searched for the knife he'd hidden and inwardly rejoiced to find it hidden in between the crease of his closed legs. He now at least had the option of ending himself quietly in the hospital room. He feared Otogakure's survival in the war if they were able to extract all Sasuke knew. No, he would find a way to die before interrogation.

Sasuke attempted to sit up but found that other than adjusting his hands and feet, no part of his body would move. He cursed the warm yellow glow of the restraining field above. Smart of the Federation, but not smart enough. The minute he was given time to himself, he'd end his life quickly.

Once again the door slid open, and a different nurse in a baggy white medic uniform stepped inside and then out of his view. The restraining field released in the next second, and Sasuke slowly felt his limbs regain the ability to move.

"You may sit up, Captain," the Federate medic said in a vowel-heavy accent Sasuke could not identify.

The dizziness returned full force, and despite Sasuke's initial attempt to sit up, he found himself unable to do so. The medic neared him, lifting him by the shoulder into a sitting position.

"You're all right. Do you want something to eat?"

Sasuke shook his head. Despite the weakness in his body, and the knowledge that he probably hadn't eaten since his departure from Otogakure's surface two days earlier, he refused. He would be dead within the hour, and that comforted his stomach enough.

"I understand," the nurse said, giving him a small smile. "Sometimes the dialysis equipment will leave the patient with a latent appetite, but I'm sure if you smell something good, you'll want to eat."

Sasuke hoped she would leave to retrieve his meal, clinging desperately to the idea of a repeated suicide attempt, but she merely turned to another sliding panel on the wall, removing a tray of steaming brown broth and what looked like crackers placed neatly in a row next to the bowl. Once again Sasuke refused the meal but offered a thank you in return. The nurse smiled, her cheeks reddening slightly.

Sasuke was about to ask for something to drink, hopefully something that she would have to leave the room to obtain, but the sliding door sounded again, and a lean gray-uniformed man stepped inside accompanied by two others.

"Are you ready, Captain?" the man asked, holding out a pair of wrist cuffs.

_No, not already!_

Sasuke didn't respond. Instead he leapt from the bed, twisted and rolled on the floor, which threw two of the three guards off balance. However the third caught him by the shoulders and attempted to put him down on the floor. Sasuke's weakened legs beat him to it, felling the young captain to the cold tile panels of the medical bay before he could get even half way out the door. Despite the confusion of the struggle, Sasuke at least had the presence of mind to hide the tiny knife in the hem of the top of his loose-fitting gray medical pants before the man who had spoken earlier grasped Sasuke by the arms and lifted him to a standing position.

"None of that, Captain. Unless you prefer to be sedated and carried." The manacles nicked the back of his hands as they slid shut.

Beaten, Sasuke lowered his head slightly and nodded. "No, that won't be necessary. I will walk."

"That's better. This way, please." Down the glossy isles of the Federation ship, Sasuke was lead in front of the three guards. They passed a number of similarly gray-suited Federation soldiers, who each looked at Sasuke with widened eyes. That was no surprise, Sasuke mused when acknowledging the vast differences in their appearances. Sasuke was pale, almost to the point of pure whiteness, with jet black hair, while the Federation crew dabbled in between skin tones of creamy tan and ruddy chocolate: all of them looked like they spent ages in the sun.

Sasuke's eyes were wide open and taking in every possible detail of the Federation ship, noting how much superior technology and unfamiliar machines surrounded him on each side; every article of equipment was practically untouched, more than likely on its maiden voyage. Otogakure's well-worn battle gear would pose no threat to such advanced weaponry, Sasuke thought with a thrill of fear. If they had information from him as well, Otogakure would surely lose every battle to come.

Sasuke swiftly pulled the blade from his trouser hem, folding his hands over the shaft to obscure it from the guard's view. He'd had much experience with the shackles that currently bit into the sensitive skin of his wrists. The Akatsuki had made them their favorite game of "punishment", injecting Sasuke with Manda to heighten his senses and clasping the shackles onto Sasuke's wrists so tightly that blood ran from the broken skin. He'd be given a tiny metal cylinder, much too large to fit in the keyhole to the shackles, which meant that Sasuke would be forced to bend the metal first with his bleeding hands before trying to pick the lock. The faster Sasuke accomplished this, despite the heightened pain the Manda induced, the faster his punishment would end.

Sasuke had picking shackles down to a science. The fact he had obtained a knife small enough to slip into the keyhole of the shackles made it ten times easier. Before Sasuke was lead down the next hall, he was free of his bonds, but he allowed them to hang partially closed to fool his guards into thinking he was still chained. He'd wait for the right moment. Sasuke glanced stealthily down every corridor they passed, looking for ones that were dimmed slightly, indicating that they hadn't been occupied for some time. If he could somehow escape down one of those corridors, he would have ample time enough to end his life.

A stab to the jugular, he decided then. It would gush as much blood in as little of time before he could be caught.

Delta Leader had been alerted the second the enemy captain had awoken from unconsciousness, making his way from his quarters to the interrogation laboratories in a matter of mere minutes. Despite the normality of questioning a prisoner of war, he could not deny a sense of keen excitement, igniting his chakra to the point where he had to consciously tamper it down. He made a final adjustment to the laboratory's sparse lighting before sitting in a black stool that lay opposite to a small, brown couch on the far side of the room. On his left, he aligned a glowing blue scribe-book. No data would be plugged into the Federation system— not yet. The security of the ship's data banks could be broken much easier than the small, personal shorthand he used to jog his trained, nearly eidetic memory.

At any rate, this first, inconsequential meeting would only be to grab a small framework of the captain's mind, which would make it much easier to interrogate him later on.

The captain's identity had been a subject that Delta Leader had mulled over for the past several hours, but no matter how deeply he searched, he could not quite identify the mystery captain nor where he had seen him before. The memory must have been near inconsequential for him to have such difficulty.

There also was the matter of connaturality with the captain as well. If Delta Leader already felt so attuned to the captain's mental association and personality pattern, then perhaps a mapping of the boy's mind might be easier than he thought.

One thing he found for certain: This was going to be interesting.

Sasuke stood still and fought the queasy feeling of fear welling from the pit of his stomach as he and the three guards ascended the many levels of the Federate ship in a sleek lift tube. They passed silently down another corridor.

Sasuke's feet itched to run away, but the desire to find the perfect opportunity to escape kept him rooted to place. He was good at appearing beaten; he could feel the guards' stances relax slightly as they kept walking with Sasuke being so quiet. He was sure that by now they trusted that he wouldn't make another attempt at escape. They finally stopped at a plain, gray door, the front guard placing a hand over a touchscreen pad, which scanned his fingers with a glowing light and beeped when the door opened. The guard saluted someone who was within the room as Sasuke took a single step inside.

The function of the room was obvious. Sasuke had taken a particularly difficult course during the third year of his Academy training about the methods of information extraction. The long lab bench, a contoured couch, a small black stool, a life-signs reader, various scientific equipment— some unfamiliar, others painfully so.

Then the man inside caught his glance, and he was familiar as well— the Jounin— Uzumaki was his name. Sasuke felt an unreasoned sense of delight upon seeing him, but suddenly Roushi's hoarse voice pierced his mind. _Don't even get close enough to recognize him!_

Instantly panicked, Sasuke abruptly threw his entire weight against the guard on his left, disentangling his hands from his shackles in the next second and felling the guard on his right with a smart jab to the nose. Now completely free, Sasuke executed a measured leap backward outside the room and stabbed the glowing recognition panel with the small blade, which effectively sealed the door. Sasuke let out a bark of laughter before lunging himself down the corridor, his legs already feeling a little sluggish from all the excitement. The remnants of the concentrated Manda had side effects, Sasuke discovered grimly as intense pain thundered from his knees up to his heart again. Some of it must still be left in his system for him to be feeling it so intensely.

But no matter. Sasuke stopped in one of the darkened corridors he'd seen earlier and withdrew the knife, staring for a second at it. This was going to be unpleasant. He didn't want to die; he knew that painfully well now that he stared the sharp object in the face. But his pride as an Otogakure royal as well as his love for his people demanded his suicide now. He said no goodbyes this time, raising the blade to his neck.

"_Stop!"_

Sasuke's hand suddenly, rebelliously refused to move. His whole body had frozen.

"_Lower the knife_," the voice commanded, and somehow Sasuke's knife fell away from his throat. "_Drop it_." His fingers lost all feeling, and the knife fell with a harmless flop to the floor. Sasuke saw the Jounin Uzumaki, no the _Hokage_ Uzumaki, the strongest starbred the Federation had produced in generations, leveling him with those startlingly blue eyes at the end of the hall. A deep sense of hopelessness shook him as the other guards appeared in the Jounin's wake, panting from the exertion of running up and down the long halls of the cruiser. They once again secured him in shackles, this time holding him firmly by the shoulders and wrists. The guard he'd struck in the nose, which was bleeding a little bit on the right side, picked up the knife. None of them appeared to be angry, just a little disconcerted and certainly peeved.

"_Follow_," Uzumaki commanded again. In silence Sasuke was lead back to the same interrogation room. Uzumaki's uniform was the same deep blue as before, and his impressive frame filled it much better than the other guards present. When he sat on the opposite side of the room, he fixed Sasuke again with those blue eyes. "_Over there_."

Sasuke's legs mindlessly carried him to the base of the couch, the backs of his shins meeting the soft fabric. The Jounin slowly lowered his hand, and Sasuke felt the hold over his body slack, nearly falling to his knees as the force of his own weakness hit him. Certainly this couldn't be the man who'd been nothing but a colonel a year ago? He tried to steady his shaking hands.

What if this man remembered Sasuke too?

The guards took a wary step backward and addressed their superior with the slight nodding of their heads, waiting for further orders. The Jounin, for now, ignored them and turned to squarely face Sasuke. The captain's attempt at suicide seemed to have been nothing more than a small hindrance to the powerful starbred.

"Lieutenant General Naruto Uzumaki," he said as he dipped his head in greeting. "Of Konohagakure."

"Yes." Sasuke avoided those enrapturing eyes with all the force of his determination. Roushi's voice sounded in his mind. _Don't look into the eyes: the eyes are the windows to a Chakra connection._

As he stood quietly for a few moments, Naruto spoke again. "I need to ask you a few questions, Captain."

Sasuke suddenly felt as if he could vomit over the General's glimmering black boots. "I know."

"You will answer them for me then?"

"No."

A light smile, white teeth. "It's alright, I won't hold it against you."

The Jounin's serene confidence angered Sasuke, and he felt the desire to retaliate with something rude and senseless but suppressed it. He tensed slightly for flight or fight.

The General seemed to note this and sighed. "_Sit_." Sasuke's legs folded beneath him despite his best efforts to resist the voice command. The three guards, who seemed to look to Uzumaki as some sort of paragon of strength, smiled at him before bowing and leaving the room. Now they were alone, and Sasuke's anxiety increased tenfold.

Uzumaki stepped forward to remove Sasuke's binders. "Well then…" He halted.

Sasuke's eyes unconsciously rose to his captor's, terrified of the recognition he found there, but he remembered his training in the next second and lowered them quickly.

"Lord Uchiha," Uzumaki said slowly. "You were there, at the council meeting on Otogakure a year ago. You were caught trespassing. Now I remember you. Do you remember me?"

"Y-yes." Sasuke closed his eyes tight, afraid of another voice command. Any thrill he would have had over being remembered by the Jounin was lost in his own terrified silence.

Uzumaki stepped back a few feet, a gesture Sasuke took as to be reassuring, but nothing could calm the boy's erratic heartbeat.

"How long have you been in service, Your Highness? It could not have been more than a year since I last saw you, and you were but a student then. You must have risen in the ranks rather quickly."

"_You're one to talk," _he almost replied but stopped himself. Sasuke knew that perhaps the question was intended to be nothing more than a polite inquiry, but his suspicion was a terrible force nonetheless. It could be a question, harmless enough in appearance, meant to build some sort of trust between interrogator and the interrogated, a tool to slacken his tongue. Sasuke could only shake his head.

Uzumaki sighed. "Very well. Lean back please."

Sasuke waited for the pressing sensation to overtake him once more but found it didn't come. He stared hard at Uzumaki's black glossy boots on the far side of the room, anguishing over the second they would move, and it would begin.

"Lord Uchiha, I prefer not to force you," the Jounin prodded gently.

Sasuke finally found his nerve, his jaw clenching in utmost defiance. "I will give you nothing willingly."

The boots moved: heels coming together squarely under the hips. "Then, _sit back_," he said, the authoritative tone coming into his voice. At once, Sasuke felt the familiar pressure descend over his body, and try as he may to resist, he swung his legs over the side of the couch and reclined. The hold the Jounin placed on him lessened, and Sasuke attempted to sit up once more, but he was caught again.

"The restraining field is meant to allow me to concentrate on my work. I won't hurt you." He fastened a vital-signs patch to Sasuke's right arm, and the boy turned his head away, the only form of resistance he had left.

"How long have you been in service, Lord Uchiha?"

Sasuke swallowed and tampered down the intense terror fluttering around in his stomach. He forced his eyes shut, trying to remember everything Roushi had said that day regarding interrogation under Jounins. But this was the real thing and he was absolutely petrified, which was a variable had not been introduced in the classroom. In an attempt to calm himself, his thoughts intentionally moved to a collapsed form of the Sharingan T-35, one he had found broken and dilapidated on the far end of one of the training grounds. Sasuke had made it his own personal hobby to take small parts, little pieces that the mechanics would never miss, to the little machine and attempt to fix it up. He attempted to focus on the T-35 and not on waiting for the strange prickling sensation to begin.

Roushi, he thought bitterly for a second, had only begun his Jounin training. Before him was the Konohagakure Hokage, the most powerful Jounin the system had seen in hundreds of years. How could Sasuke even hope to resist?

Without warning, an insurmountable sense of weight crashed over his chest and head, so heavy he could have sworn the couch creaked under the strain. Sasuke fought for control, readying his defenses and concentrated harder on the list of parts he'd had to obtain, relaying mentally their full names to demand more concentration. The weight suddenly lifted.

"Someone has breached you before."

Sasuke only had breath and the presence of mind enough to allow a single syllable to escape: "What?"

"Who has trained you in access resistance?" When Sasuke clenched his jaw in refusal, he continued. "I'm sorry for your sake that they did. This would be much easier on you if you didn't resist."

Sasuke stared at the metal panels to his right, refusing to even glance in the Jounin's direction. "I have a homeland to protect."

"You've done enough protecting already, Lord Uchiha. First you attempted to atomize yourself against the Ame mountain range. Then you poisoned yourself, and finally that rather impressive display a few minutes ago. You've followed your orders— Captain Uchiha. I have no desire to force this on you, but I will if I must. This will be unpleasant if you resist. _How long have you been in service_?"

Sasuke's heart suddenly felt ready to soar, ready to put up the resistance of a lifetime. He knew his mission. He'd failed to extract himself from this life. He deserved the discomfort of this interrogation. However, he would not go quietly into submission. He would make this Jounin, one who had breached the minds of hundreds if not thousands of enemies, remember the day he questioned Sasuke Uchiha.

Sensing his renewed rebellion, Uzumaki sighed and shook his head. "Very well. If it eases your conscience, resist as much as you can. I won't hold it against you. But it would be more comfortable for you if you looked this way."

Sasuke felt the unreasoning desire to laugh in the Jounin's face but remained as he was, stubbornly fixated on the metal panels before him.

The weight returned full force, and he found himself suddenly unable to breathe, as if he were surrounded by some sort of black ocean of thought. He concentrated hard on his T-35, the sleek outer shell of the hull, how long it took him to sand it back into its former glory, the pattern of sanding metal he used, how many— The warmth and weight hit him again like wave, distracting his thought flow like a battered sailor clinging to the edge of craggy rocks. The image of a dark thundering ocean Sasuke had never seen before suddenly became terrifyingly clear, and he resisted the image as if it were a plague, forcing his own thoughts back into his head. The wave subsided again but was replaced by the sharpest feeling of Presence so penetrating that he choked out a hiccup, shocked by the tumult of emotions that flew through his heart. He desperately sought to maintain control, knowing full well the Jounin had breached the outer layer of his resistance. Now it was a game of cat and mouse, with Sasuke repeatedly shifting his thought process so that the Jounin was forced to press more weight to keep up. All at once, everything withdrew, and Sasuke released a strangled cry, convulsing slightly at the lack of the weight.

Once again, he turned his head away, panting slightly while staring upward to the dimly-lit ceiling. He felt lost still, the disconnection so abrupt that his mind was just as shaky as his legs had been minutes before. But his indignation did not leave; it only intensified with how easily he was overthrown.

Uzumaki let out a deep sigh. "I cannot go on like that. Breaching the outer layer is more gentle, but time consuming. As I said before, I have orders as well, and I cannot afford to waste so much time. Would you believe an hour has passed, Lord Uchiha?"

Sasuke's jaw clenched and his eyes dropped from the ceiling to the Jounin's belt. He was unarmed, as he'd expected, save for that strange cylinder he'd seen on Uzumaki a year before. Roushi had informed the class in the next lesson of the Jounin ceremonial weapon: the Bunshin. It was the perfect alignment of two transparent lasers that were so atomically close to one another that they could cut through anything. Unbidden, a single tear escaped Sasuke's eyes, and the young boy was powerless to remove it himself. He pulled in a shaky breath as he felt the liquid pull down the curve of his cheek toward his ear.

The Jounin's voice softened. "Perhaps you could answer me _this_ question, Your Highness. What do your friends call you?"

"Sasuke," he bit out painfully. "And it's not 'Your Highness' or 'Lord Uchiha.' It's Captain, if anything, but I—" He hiccupped slightly. –"H-hate titles." Uzumaki leaned down and gently brushed away the tear. Surprised by the kindness in the act, he offered slowly, "It's an old name, isn't it?"

"I've heard much worse," he replied soberly. "My friends call me Naruto. Can we be friends enough for that? Even though I must— do this to you?"

Sasuke desperately wished that the strange Jounin would treat him like an enemy so he could hate him. As is, the unflinching kindness and gentleness with which he was treated made any form of animosity impossible. "I suppose so," he grumbled.

The Jounin's smile distracted Sasuke from looking away. It was so boyish and unmanly, as if Uzumaki had spent an awfully large amount of time laughing when he was younger. It went all the way to his eyes and revealed unabashed white teeth. "Thank you, Sasuke," he said with that blinding smile. "You have courage. I can appreciate that no matter what uniform you wear." He turned slightly to the side, writing a few notes with a stylus in a small glowing book on the side of the desk. "Relax. I will be gentle if I can."

Sasuke once again turned his head away, shutting his eyes.

"Stubborn," he chided softly. He reached to dim the overhead panel, leaving the two of them in nearly pitch darkness. Behind his lids, Sasuke concentrated on the schematics he'd had to draw up for his T-35, how precise the measurements had to be, how he had needed to somehow obtain an ion generator in order to make the contraption flyable once more—

The weight descended like a hammer in Sasuke's chest, and a breath was involuntarily forced from his lips, another strangled cry for control over his own thoughts. This wasn't the same kind of forcefulness he'd felt before. The Jounin above him was not attempting to place an illusion this time. No, this was something entirely different and infinitely more complex. The weight was almost like a hand, reaching down and attempting to grasp hold of Sasuke's mind. There was no sensation of a wave, only the hand, clawing at his outer defenses. Sasuke mounted a defense by focusing on the void of black before him. It was so stark, empty, that nothing could shift his mind for those few moments.

"_Open your eyes_. _Follow my fingers_."

Sasuke could no more disobey than cease to exist, though in those few minutes he willed his own body to implode rather than submit to the will of the Jounin. For the tiniest of moments, he succeeded, focusing on the collared blue uniform, but the moment two fingers crossed his line of sight, he followed them without question. They seemed to blur, flickering until they became one with the Jounin's eyes.

They were an enrapturing azure, so intense that Sasuke felt lost in them completely. The weight descended again, and Sasuke's defenses melted like sand under a lightning strike. The foreign presence snuck into the deepest recesses of his mind, extracting information at will, flickering back and forth over detailed Otogakure plans of attack, layouts of the palace, secrets Sasuke had discovered through his unorthodox methods of spying, the face of Orochimaru's second baby girl….

_No!_ Sasuke screamed inside his mind, forcing all his mental weight against the foreign presence. He only pushed it back for a millisecond, and he knew it wouldn't be long before it invaded him once more. He thought of the palace, the courtyard behind the brass and stone gates, and the labyrinth behind the courtyard. _Even if he has breached the outer and even inner defenses, he won't find me if I go into the labyrinth…._

The weight descended again. In the physical realm, Sasuke's and Naruto's eyes were locked so tightly together that the entire ship falling from its point in the sky would not have broken their intense concentration.

Sasuke reconstructed his thoughts, arranged them, scattered them, anything to turn them into a maze that was almost impossible to solve. _My mind is a labyrinth, my mind is a labyrinth, my mind is a labyrinth!_

_My mind is a labyrinth._

_Itachi, I—_

**Abrupt ending!**

**So they have finally met. It'll only get better from here, I hope. **

**Stay tuned for the next chapter. **


	5. Chapter 4

**AU. I'd like to say that the number of reviews has increased my pace. Thanks for the encouragement. It's lovely to know the story is interesting. **

**Chapter 4**

**Sasuke**

_Naruto could feel the intensity with which Sasuke pulled deep within himself and mentally gasped at the level of intellectual prowess it took to perform such an act. He had to act quickly to grab at the coattails of Sasuke's psychological thought process and be dragged inside the recesses of the boy's mind before the connection they had was broken completely. Sasuke could be nothing more than a genius if he was able to lock his memories so completely within the contours of his sub-consciousness. As he travelled in a vortex of thought similar to that of a wormhole, Naruto reflected that if he were anyone else, Sasuke's defenses would have been completely unbreakable. But Naruto was Hokage and had travelled this deep before into a psyche but only into the mind of another, trained Jounin. _

_He mentally prepared himself for the most intense metaphysical experience of his life, knowing full well that he not only was going to be privy to the boy's thoughts and memories but also to feelings and emotions. Naruto would have to sift through each barrier Sasuke put in his way in order to wear him out and extract the needed information. _

_All at once, he found himself inside of a labyrinth, hedges rising up all around him with a roar of wind, but rather than being completely opaque, the walls surrounding Naruto reflected, became translucent, showed a flicker of memory, then stabilized in the next moment. "Sasuke!" he called. He felt his own form take shape within the boy's mind, his mental representation resembling his physical one to the point where he could look down and perceive his own hands. _

"_This boy is too much," Naruto said in awe to himself. _

_A stirring farther down one of the adjacent corridors caught Naruto's ears and he turned to face a small boy, no older than eleven or twelve with charcoal hair. The boy looked to be ravenous with anger, black eyes flashing. "Get out," he hissed angrily. The image wavered for a moment, Naruto saw Sasuke's psychological form flicker over the boy's, and then disappear into nothingness. Naruto bolted down the corridor in that direction, using his chakra to extend past his body in an attempt to catch up with Sasuke's fleeing mind. Abruptly, the hedges of inconsequential memories— the detail of a handle on a door, the number of students in Sasuke's class— fell from their once erect positions into Naruto's path. The Jounin braced himself mentally and then lunged over the piles of memories, clearing them before once again landing on solid ground. He did not halt or slow his breakneck speed until he rounded another corner, tripped and fell. Suddenly, he was inside a ventilation shaft, on his hands and knees, with his closest friend a few meters behind him. _

_He had no time to adjust himself into Sasuke's memory, swept completely away inside the boy's mind. He crawled another ten meters before stopping when he heard the sound of a grunt behind him. "Sakura, be quiet!" he hissed down to the strawberry-blonde girl. _

_He edged anxiously until he was met with a ventilation screen that allowed him to peer down into the convening Electorate below. Sakura unceremoniously crawled past his boots and onto his back to afford herself a better view. He felt a strange sense of fondness mixed with an indescribable pain as he felt her body pressed on top of his back, but that was somehow nothing compared to his curiosity over why the Electorate had convened today. _

_He'd—no Sasuke had— seen the Federation ships arrive that morning, after all, and despite all his numerous inquiries, no one would give him a strait answer. _

"_Third Prince Sasuke Uchiha, come down from there this instant."_

_The girl dissolved into thin air, and Naruto was before the Electorate: before his uncle the dictator and his two cousins who hated him. The cousin with the dark hair simpered and whispered wicked words that were muffled by the intense emotion of fear and loathing Sasuke had felt at the time, spiced with a level of rebellion Naruto hadn't felt since his early teen years. _

_Naruto turned to look behind him, knowing full well the memory would proceed without him. Sasuke's attention to detail was unheard of. Every shadow on the delegates' faces was correct, every curve and tone of their bodies. The room itself was also accurately rendered in terrifyingly clear detail, down to the individual cracks on a nearby pillar. Naruto had possessed many memories and was used to little, fuzzy parts of the mental image, a direct result of the subject's focus on a single object. Sasuke seemed to take in everything at once, including the tiny particles of dirt under his own fingernails from crawling around in the ventilation shaft. Naruto even saw Grand Lady Tsunade, her hands characteristically folded over her mouth as one of Naruto's comrades whispered advice into her ear. He turned slightly and beheld his own form, also remembered with precision in every detail. He felt a strange pull to his reflection, a brief sense of excitement, and Naruto acknowledged that whoever that man was could have been the most attractive man he'd ever seen. _

_Sasuke's memories were… surprising._

_Without warning, a strange grip settled in like a vice on both of his arms, and once again Naruto was met with a very defensive Sasuke, who glanced worriedly at Naruto's other self standing beside the Konoha ambassadors for a moment, and then yelled into Naruto's face, __**"Get out!"**_

_He threw Naruto with all the force he had, and Naruto spun and felt the floor drop away from him, free-falling for fifty meters before suddenly snapping his back into two pieces on the walls of one of the barricades to the training field. He cried out from the pain then fell again, farther this time. _

_He was sitting, every detail of his Academy classroom focusing into perfect clarity, that same girl sitting next to him, an arm clinging desperately to his. He longed to hold her back, to do something other than what he had done— No, other that what _**Sasuke**_ had done, he had to remind himself._

"_We could live a normal life," the girl said. "Start a—_

"_Family?" he finished with scorn, though a strange pain echoed through his heart like the soft toll of a bell. _

"_I like children." She looked up to him with those clear, green eyes, brimming with tears. _

"_Children are for—"_

"_**OUT, NARUTO!" **_

_Again, the hard hands grasped his shoulders, Sasuke was screaming unintelligible phrases, sputtering about labyrinths and mazes, until Naruto found himself once more locked within the hedges of the maze, but this time instead of being orderly, fluctuating from time to time with a powerful memory, it seemed to be crumbling beneath Naruto's very feet. He had no time left to be in here. _

_He closed his metaphysical eyes, having to search hard to reach his own psyche, which had somehow been tangled slightly with Sasuke's. Finding his own spark of chakra was difficult, but soon he saw it, a distant flame that he grasped with both hands. It enveloped him with golden blaze that didn't burn, which flew through the labyrinth like a wraith. Naruto happened upon Sasuke's huddled form, just in front of an iron gate. He looked pensive, afraid, but as he saw Naruto coming, he made to reach for the silver handle._

"_Don't!" Naruto cried, grasping Sasuke by the arms and pulling, pulling, pulling upward, out of the subconscious, out of the mind, out of the eyes—_

Sasuke reeled upward and choked out a whimpering cry, tears unabashedly running from both eyes and down the sides of his cheeks. Above him, Naruto panted as well then collapsed in the adjacent stool he'd sat in before. Sasuke couldn't stop shaking, his hands, feet, and torso beyond his own control as the shock of how deeply he'd taken himself finally hit home. He could feel everything he'd worked so hard through his life to try to tamp down, all the resentment, bitterness, fear, love, pain, passion burst forth and left him a convulsing mess, unable to breathe.

Naruto wordlessly scooted the stool closer to the boy, placing calloused but warm hands over his eyes and murmuring phrases Sasuke could not make out, spoken in that same strange tongue as before but not a command. It was soothing. A few tense minutes passed before Sasuke could breathe normally again and Naruto finally stopped his constant stream of words, looking down to the boy with anguish in his blue eyes. Gently, he wiped away the soaking mop of Sasuke's fringe.

"Please, Sasuke," he said, "don't do that again. If I hadn't pulled you out with me, you could have been lost within the recesses of your mind, and no one would be able to touch you then."

"And the secrets of Otogakure would remain safe," he whispered with evident longing. "That door…"

"Don't. You'd throw yourself into darkness; it's a death far more painful than any form of physical suicide."

"I would slit my throat a hundreds times for my homeland," Sasuke retorted stubbornly. "I will destroy my own mind if need be."

Naruto closed his eyes and had to turn away from the seriousness with which Sasuke spoke about his own psychological demise. Sasuke, for his part, felt no different about a mental suicide than he did about a physical one: if it could happen, he would try as hard as possible to ensure that it did.

Naruto rose from his chair. "I will leave you for a few hours. I suggest you sleep if you can. Sasuke, please…" The boy finally was able to meet with those eyes, kind eyes, so full of unabashed emotion. "Don't do that again."

The door slid open as Naruto placed a hand over the recognition panel, leaving Sasuke in a completely darkened room, where sleep took him immediately.

The door roused him some hours later, sliding open once more with a customary hiss. Naruto's boots clicked lightly on the metal panels below before Sasuke felt a gentle hand on his forehead. "You've slept," he said slowly.

Sasuke nodded but again did not make eye contact with his captor. He felt rested enough to begin his resistance anew. The Jounin must have somehow known this, for he didn't say anything else, merely instructing that Sasuke look at him with a voice command. And it began again.

Sasuke felt Naruto's presence, like a warm washcloth over sweaty skin, descend over his conscious mind, skimming the surface of Sasuke's outer memories too quickly to defend against. Naruto was obviously switching up tactics this time, attacking swiftly and then withdrawing. Sasuke's attempts to mount any form of resistance were met with a sickness that stole over his body and didn't allow him any time to ascertain why before another memory was stolen.

Sasuke realized after a few hours of pointlessly attempting to keep Naruto away from the minor memories, that the time to resist would be later, when Naruto attempted to access his more precious information. He allowed the Jounin General to pass through his defenses, his mind shifting across time from one space to another in a fluid arc that only Naruto seemed to be able to understand.

Mental images slowly began to race out of his control, dizzying and sickening him. First the Planetary Naval inventory, then ship by ship its armament and defensive hardware. Schematics and illustrations and memories of qualifying flights spun by while he cowered under the buffeting hugeness of this Jounin's will. He realized all too late that letting him even in the first ranks of his memory was giving him far too much. "No," he gasped desperately.

Naruto did not speak, and once again the overhead panel was dimmed to near complete darkness. He bent Sasuke's memory, and the boy found himself limp in the assault of a far superior mind.

The process lasted for hours. Each memory, schematic, face, name was dragged from his consciousness and forced into the unblinking eye of the Hokage. When finally it was over, Sasuke felt as useless as a test dummy in a crashed fighter pilot and just as limp. Naruto allowed him time to put his own thoughts together, an hour, maybe more. He was offered food and water on several occasions, which he stubbornly refused with a clenched jaw. He was beyond hunger now, the only feeling registering was his the ache of his throbbing head.

Then it began again. Naruto went past military expertise now, focusing on Sasuke's memories as a member of the royal family, and here is when the boy finally was able to call upon his reserves of resistance. Naruto prodded mercilessly, Sasuke evaded and dodged each mental attack as if it were a flying projectile, focusing on meaningless details: the texture of his bed sheets, the one brown speck in Sakura's green eyes. But they were not enough to hold Naruto back for long, and Sasuke realized that he had to hone in on a stronger memory, something that swept his attention away.

He dragged his mind over his fondest memory: his first and only flight in a Sharingan 11-90. Misslings were forbidden to fly anything above a T-35 fighter, as they would never be assigned anything of better technology than their worth, but Sasuke had not been able to settle for such an answer to his longing to fly the sleek vessel. After the Academy had long been put to sleep, in the darkness of the new moon, Sasuke had snuck into the Academy training facility through a narrow passageway he'd discovered a month earlier between the civilian sector and the obstacle course field. Navigating his way undetected into the hangar bay from the field had been mere child's play. It was the nerve to actually pilot the vessel that was the most galling part of the whole escapade. He knew that the minute he took off, the military police, along with the Academy and the feared Akatsuki, would be alerted to a ship being stolen, and he would be instantly grounded and punished. He was fifteen at the time, only three years into his status as a Missling and not familiar with the pain of Manda injections. He narrowed his eyes as he stared longingly at the black and red 11-90 and made his decision. Springing into the hangar and then into the cockpit, he ran a quick system's check before mounting the emergency start up sequence codes. The ship roared to life and with it Sasuke's long dormant heart. He remembered now the true reason he needed to pilot this ship in the first place. He longed to feel again, be it adrenaline or fear, _anything_ after years of being a frozen mass of nothing.

He flicked a few of the glowing sensor buttons, detaching the fuel tank along with the mounting gear. He checked around him, pleased not to see any attendants in his path. He roared with an unabashed laughter, felt it escalate beyond any sensation he'd felt in years, and pushed down hard on the throttle.

The fighter blasted out of the hangar with a bellow that almost matched in volume Sasuke's scream of pure, unmitigated joy. Instantly, the voices of the ground crew, the chief of police, and the Academy flight director crackled through his helmet's earpiece, but he threw his helmet off in the next second and disconnected his safety harness as well. Both pieces of metal and fabric clattered harmlessly behind him. He could feel every curve the ship took, every bank, every stabilizing drift to balance out against the heavy gusts of wind. Sasuke closed his eyes and felt the thrill of flight, feeling it, _feeling it so powerfully…_

Naruto withdrew with a start.

Sasuke collapsed mentally at the strength of the memory and his own soaring emotions. In all actuality, he'd forgotten he'd trailed Naruto around with him through the memory until that very moment. He blinked and stared up at the Jounin, who had removed himself from Sasuke a full meter away.

"Very good," Naruto said with a slight pant in his breath. Sasuke saw the unmistakable sheen of sweat across the man's tan forehead, redness in his cheeks, and knew he'd felt it too. "You surprised me. It's so strange…" He neared Sasuke and sat beside him once more. "Sometimes with access there's a feeling of… coldness. Invasion. Some have even called it disgust. Do you feel anything like that?"

Sasuke thought hazily back to Roushi's first access into his mind, remembered the cold prickling feeling on the back of his neck and shuddered. "No, I do not."

Naruto once again turned to the side and wrote in his digital glowing scribe-book and then turned back to Sasuke, the two fingers hovering over his eyes once more. "_Look here, Sasuke. Look at me._" Lost in the voice, the blue of Naruto's eyes, Sasuke had no other thought in his brain but to obey. Naruto had brought his face close enough for Sasuke to feel every breath emitted from the older man, and the proximity was having a swaying effect over Sasuke's exhausted consciousness. It was almost a relief that Naruto broke through his mental barricade with a single stride of prodding, calling forth Sasuke's extensive knowledge of several hidden bases in Otogakure's otherwise deserted plains, the labs Orochimaru had hidden in the city as well.

When Naruto withdrew once again, Sasuke was lost to unconsciousness almost instantly, physically and mentally exhausted. He lost track of time, of how many hours he was locked in the room with this strange Jounin, who treated him with more kindness than Sasuke's own family. Dragged back and forth in time by his own memories, he could hardly find any mental stability to mount a resistance, and each time Naruto withdrew, he could not speak or move, only fall asleep once more.

Eventually, when once he woke again, Naruto did not immediately begin the access. He sat on the stool, his head in one of his hands and his eyes closed. Sasuke longed to move but the restraining field was still active and prevented anything beyond his fingers stirring. He could only look with hooded eyes toward his captor, willing his vision to stop swirling. He did note a small amount of energy funneling through his body and welcomed it gladly.

Naruto finally acknowledged Sasuke's conscious state and wheeled himself over slowly. "While you were sleeping, I told a medical crew to feed you through an IV. I apologize for taking such a liberty, but you haven't eaten in four days."

Sasuke blinked in surprise and looked away stubbornly. "I'd hoped you'd let me die when you were finished. I don't need food if I'm going to die."

"You don't have to die, Sasuke."

The mutinous idea of living frightened the boy, and he refused to mentally pursue it further. "That's not an option."

"You could seek asylum here, you know," Naruto prodded. "Change your name, live a real life."

Sasuke shook his head and closed his eyes at the idea.

"Very well. _Open your eyes. Watch my fingers._"

But Sasuke was done cooperating. Naruto extracted no more information from the boy's mind until a few hours later, when he was drained of all resistance. Naruto did it with no intimidation or harmful narcotics, didn't need to, though he could have frightened Sasuke terribly. One of the boy's early attempts at resistance had been to delve into his acute phobia of needles, of Manda and other Otogakure methods of information extraction, powerful images and feelings in every memory and quite effective at keeping the Jounin at bay for the time. In one of Naruto's brief disconnections where he scribbled into the data book beside him, Sasuke glanced at the adjacent cabinet, which was more than likely full of sharp points, ghastly needles and drugs that would have Sasuke's mind tumbling end over end…

But Naruto soothed his fears with the warmth of his own presence, reassuring the boy that he would perform no such torture, that he would never harm Sasuke. He paused repeatedly in his examinations to calm Sasuke and prevent him from overwhelming himself, dropping tiny figments of comfort and warmth and placing them down into Sasuke's brain in a slow stream of thought.

He reflected on the same experience only with Roushi, how cold it had been, how uncomfortable. With Naruto, it was like being plunged into an ocean of warm incense, so powerful and tantalizingly sensual that Sasuke felt terrified in its all-encompassing power. What someone like Naruto could do for Otogakure, Sasuke found himself thinking. His head lolled to one side. "I wish you were one of us," he murmured, meaning nothing disloyal.

"And I wish you were one of us. Now look at me, Sasuke. It will be over soon."

Naruto descended heavily once more, penetrating Sasuke's defenses quickly. "No," he moaned against the intrusion and shuddered against Naruto's warm hand on his forehead. He could feel Naruto search for the last bit of protected information in Sasuke's mind: the layout of the Otogakure palace, Sasuke's family home. He'd done all in his power to keep Naruto from finding out the secret passageways that would allow to royal family to escape if in turmoil, the weakened battlements on the northern wall, the—

"_No!" _Sasuke gasped, and through sheer will, he forced his hands upward, grabbing Naruto's face despite the energy field pressing against his body. He pulled the Jounin down toward him, locking their eyes, and pulling, pulling, pulling—

**into another cliff-hanger! Next chapter will be posted soon.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_Naruto skipped the labyrinth, skipped like a stone over memories past, flew through the air, and landed _**hard** _on solid marble floors, tossed like a ragdoll down. He realized with a fuzzy mind that Sasuke had drawn him in once more, into another painful memory. _

_Then the image of a steel-toed boot flashed across his eyes before he saw nothing but white and felt his own body soar through the air. He cried out in pain and covered his head with his hands, terrified as another savage kick pelted his body a half-meter end over end on the cold ground. There must have been blood coming from his nose because he could smell copper, taste it on his tongue as he screamed again. He could have been no more than seven, no eight years old. His hands were alabaster where they weren't covered in blood; his black hair fell into his eyes. His clothes had once been pristine, the clothes of royalty. Now they were covered in ash, soot and the dirt from the shoes of the masked man, who kicked him yet again. His ribs cracked under the additional blow, and he found he could hardly breathe. All around him the palace was on fire, burning from the outside but crawling its way dangerously in. The servants screamed and fled the area, ignoring the tiny boy and the massive Raider who was beating him without batting an eye. Naruto had been cornered and driven into the eastern ballroom, but now he was surrounded on all sides by windows and mirrors, nowhere to flee on the third floor of the castle. _

_Another kick. Naruto's tiny body flew across the room from the force to his ribs and was stopped by a mirror on the far end of the room, which shattered across his back. The pain was indescribable, each individual shard cutting through his silk chemise like butter and lodging into his skin in an instant. _

"_That's right, brat, all you royals really know how to scream," the man taunted. Naruto felt genuine fear lock his body into place, like a rabbit in front of a viper, equally frail and helpless. The__** memory**__, he had to remind himself shakily, held as much detail as all of Sasuke's thoughts, down to the most insignificant aspect of the tiny cut on his own left wrist. _

"_S-stop!" he cried, sobbing in terror and pain, unable to move or crawl away any further. The glass shards dripped down onto his shoulders now, crumbling away from the mirror and cutting his face on the way down. The man laughed, actually laughed, at the sight of a bloody child. _

_Naruto could do nothing but sob and wait as the man drew a nasty-looking blaster from the holster on his hip. The weapon was spiked in several places, meant to be useful in melee combat as well as long range. Naruto hoped that he would be merely shot and not beaten to death, those spikes sending spasms of fear into his little body. But the man licked one of the spikes with a drooling tongue and took a step closer. _

_And then stopped mid-stride, his eyes widening in confusion. Naruto glanced down the burly Raider to find a ceremonial spear lodged in the man's stomach, then retracted with a quick, slicing movement. The Raider gurgled and fell, revealing the face of—_

"_Itachi!" Naruto sobbed, unable to stand or move toward his savior, but weakly extending his hands nonetheless. Shameless tears burst from his eyes, and he cried and cried as his brother neared him. _

"_Sasuke," the older man said in a low voice, pulling the tiny boy in for a gentle hug. Naruto tried to take in the man's details, black hair and eyes similar to Sasuke's but a stronger more defined chin and heavier limbs. "We have to escape, Sasuke. We have to. We must." His voice cracked with emotion. His face was covered completely in ash and blood, a frightening sight. "Hold on to me now, bro. You'll be safe I promise." He lifted Sasuke gently under his knees and saw with a grimace his bleeding back. "Can you hold onto me?"_

_Naruto nodded as he wrapped his arms around Itachi's neck. His brother put his hands under his knees and bolted from the ballroom. The palace was set ablaze in many of the once pristine corridors but passed in a blur of tears where the memory fuzzed over in a few places. Naruto felt disjointed all at once and realized that Sasuke must have been passing in and out of consciousness, the loss of blood becoming significant. _

_They passed into the king and queen's bedchambers, where Itachi pressed a hidden panel on the wall. It groaned, split into two and allowed just enough room for them to escape. The smell of flame and ash lessened as they entered the hall, especially when the panel closed quickly behind them and left them in darkness._

"_M-mother and father," Sasuke cried as he clung to his brother with all his might. He hadn't seen them; they must still be in the palace… mommy and daddy…_

_The words echoed as Itachi spoke them. __**"No, Sasuke. They can't follow us. They can't ever follow us."**_

_Flung from the memory like a ragdoll, Naruto sat inside the Akatsuki interrogation lab, surrounded on all sides by advanced scientific equipment, a few of them plunged directly into his body through terrifyingly large needles. Other than that, Naruto could hardly see anything, a blinding light shining directly into his eyes. The glint of Kabuto's spectacles blurred as Naruto's head lolled to and fro, his muscles jumping inside his skin against his will. _

"_Another round," his cousin said unceremoniously, and the sound of his pen scratching in his notebook abruptly sounded like a roaring in his ears, so loud and abrasive that he moaned and put his hands over his head. _

_In each point on his body where a needle was plunged, he abruptly felt a burning sensation so poignant, he cried out, hurting his own ears again. "N-No more," he begged, drool falling out the side of his mouth. "E-enough, please. I-I can't—_

_Kabuto didn't look up from his leather-bound journal. One of the Akatsuki walked in behind Kabuto, the red clouds on his cape mesmerizing Naruto's hazy vision. "Why don't we put him in the simulator? You think he can last two hours this time?"_

_Kabuto looked up at the Akatsuki, appeared to be bored of the man, and waved his hand dismissively. "Do whatever you want with him. Just get me a heart rate and blood pressure reading when you're done. I'm leaving."_

_The flight simulator's reactive lights and sound bored like drills through Naruto's senses, the part of the cockpit seat digging into his back so painful he thought he might die. He was in mid-battle with the holographic enemy ships, and with each one firing more torpedoes and landing direct hits, the simulated jarring he felt caused him even more pain. He felt ready to gag over the control panel, but his pride wouldn't allow him that luxury. If he impressed the Akatsuki, they would be entertained long enough to grow bored of him and let him leave. He knew that. He clung to it. _

_Four more fighters on his nav-screen diminished as he fired a mass of supposed proton lasers into the fray. With every sense heightened to a painful degree, he felt he might die from sensory overload, and for a moment, he truly longed for it. He threw back his head and couldn't even look at the screens before him anymore, murmuring strings of phrases that he couldn't discern. He would surely die…_

_The simulator abruptly stopped, merciful darkness surrounding Naruto. Outside the hollow dome, a woman's voice shrieked. The simulator bubble opened, and he was pulled with uncanny strength down from the cockpit and into warm arms. A gentle hand was placed over his head as he buried his face into the chest of his savior. _

"_You Akatsuki bastards have taken it too far this time! What would you have done if you'd killed the Third Prince, you ass-holes? I'll see you all court-martialed for this!"_

"_Do whatever you want, Missling," he heard one of them say, obviously unthreatened. "We're following His Highness Lord Kabuto's orders."_

_Sakura, for of course it was Sakura, hissed, "We'll see about that."_

_Naruto clung to her desperately, feeling at once cold and unbearably hot, crying and shaking against her. "Thank you. I-I love you," he murmured over and over again. _

"_**I love you so much."**_

_Corridors of memories flew past him in a terrifyingly narrowing pathway, zooming up to meet him like a wall, and Naruto abruptly landed inside the inner contours of the labyrinth. Sasuke was before him, hand outstretched toward a massive silver gateway, the same Naruto had seen on his first excursion into Sasuke's mind. _

"_Don't," Naruto whispered. His voice echoed with power, as if they were standing in a great hall rather than a maze with hedges and stones. But Sasuke turned toward him, his eyes dead. _

"_Get out."_

"_Don't go in there!" Naruto pleaded. "Whatever you put in there, Sasuke, is something that could destroy you. Something—_

"_More horrifying than my home burning to the ground, more painful than every Manda injection, more shocking than Sakura... than when she…" He inhaled deeply. "I know already. Get out, Naruto. When I open this door, this memory won't stay inside. It'll come out and consume us both."_

"_I won't let it!" Naruto approached Sasuke's metaphysical form, noted how much older the boy looked inside his mind, as if the taxing experiences of his life had aged him farther than his body had in reality. Sasuke's shoulders were broader, his chest filled, his face more chiseled and handsome, but his eyes held the same vivacious passion, the same dark life that struck Naruto as he looked into the boy's soul. "I can save you!" he pleaded in a whisper._

_Sasuke shook his head and smiled. "Save me, Naruto? You can't save me. I won't let you take the last of my secrets; I'll die before I give in. I'll open this door and lose myself in this memory. It's the reason I have to die. I have to remain loyal. So get out, Naruto. Get out now."_

"_Sasuke, don't!"_

_The dark-haired man reached out a graceful hand and opened the door. It creaked and swung with a gust of wind Naruto did not feel with his skin. Naruto made a conscious decision. He could withdraw and possibly save himself, lose Sasuke permanently in the recesses of the boy's vast subconscious or throw his own mind into the fray._

_Naruto leapt. _

Sasuke arrived at the palace, chewing partially on red tomato while perusing the material for a flight simulation test he was to have in another week. He confessed to himself that he knew the material well enough to teach it, but scanning it, memorizing each of the tiny details of a fighter craft, was exciting. He longed to one day be free of the simulations and fly into the open Otogakure sky.

That would come in another year, he assured himself. He already was advanced beyond most of his peers, but no crew operator would allow a twelve-year old boy inside a fully functioning Sharingan, no matter their station. Sasuke slowly ascended the white marble staircase of the palace, now fully rebuilt after the fire four years before, and entered his quarters at the end of a long hall. Placing his carrier bag down on his bed along with a few scan disks that held the newest designs for the next Sharingan model, he replaced his school uniform with a more casual loose-fitting shirt and military pants.

_Each aspect of the memory was hyper-rendered, Naruto realized. It was as if Sasuke had spend long hours, maybe even days' worth of time reflecting on each detail of that fateful afternoon. Naruto could feel the temperature of Sasuke's room, catch the bits of dust floating throughout Sasuke's quarters, how the scan disks felt in his fingers, cold and metallic. Sasuke raised his head, and Naruto watched as the boy leaned slightly, trying to get a glimpse out his open door. _

"Itachi?" he called.

His brother was a man of routine, characteristically picking up the habit of maintaining order from his military studies. Sasuke was disturbed slightly that his brother had not kept his normal pattern of checking on Sasuke just about as soon as he stepped through the door. It must have been the conversation they had had the previous night.

"**You and I have descended down the ladder, Sasuke. We are now fourth and fifth in the succession line," he'd said wearily.**

"**What?" Sasuke asked with widened eyes, fear for his own life sharpening his tone. "They can't—**

"**Orochimaru and Kabuto are Madara's two sons. The Electorate voted this morning to exclude the old Uchiha line in favor for a new one. You and I do not have much time. **

"**N-no," Sasuke said with closed eyes. "**_**I**_** don't have much time. It's okay, though, brother. A Missling life— death— is an honorable one. I'm not afraid." It was a blatant lie but he knew he'd delivered it with the bearing of a royal.**

"**You misunderstand me, Sasuke. They mean to dispose of the entire old Uchiha bloodline. To protect the succession. It will be the both of us declared Misslings, brother."**

"**But that's unprecedented!" Sasuke argued with a cry. "There is no need for you to be declared a Missling if I'm already—"**

"**It is no matter. Sasuke, you must listen to me." Itachi pulled his little brother closer to him by his small arms, brushing away a stray hair from his forehead. "No matter what happens, will you promise me one thing?"**

**Sasuke swallowed and fought tears, trying to act brave for his brother. He nodded slowly. **

"**You must promise to always protect this system, this planet, no matter what. Otogakure is flawed, yes, so is every government, but it is ours, Sasuke. It belonged to mother and father and now… Now, little brother, it will belong to you. Stay loyal to us. Never give in to intimidation or fear. Your path will be the most difficult of all, but you are also the strongest and the smartest. And most of all." He placed a hand over Sasuke's chest. "You have the biggest heart. You are the one who can usher Otogakure into a new realm of peace if you persist. Remain loyal, little brother. Love this planet."**

In his room, Sasuke shook his head and dropped the remaining buttons on his shirt, padding slowly down the hallway to his brother's room. He hadn't seen Itachi since that disturbing conversation the night before, and he suddenly felt off balance, a strange sense of foreboding entering his chest.

_The world could have slowed in actual time, or it could have been Sasuke's perception of the memory, but Naruto felt the shift as Sasuke travelled down the palace hallway. The plush carpet on the young boy's bare feet felt hot as coals, and the pain prevented time from stopping fully and kept Sasuke slowly, slowly walking. As he neared Itachi's room, he saw the door was slightly ajar, which was unusual. Sasuke didn't particularly like these old-fashioned doors, he thought as he placed a hand on the wooden surface, pushing slightly. They creaked when they moved at times, let in unnecessary air, and could be left open, as he saw—_

_**He saw.**_

The room's windows had been dimmed, a single glowing lamp left to permeate the pitch darkness. It cast an eerie, sinister glow over the limp body, hanging by the neck in mid-air. It turned with the slow, lazy spin of a taut rope and revealed the silhouette of Itachi's ashen face, eyes wide and milky with death.

Sasuke was frozen for a full minute, his eyes split open in absolute horror, the image too profound, all encompassing and life-shattering to be borne. He screamed, screamed, screamed, lunged forward and dragged his brother's dead frame off the rope, cradling it in his arms. It was stiff with rigamortis and freezing cold, awkward in Sasuke's hands but he clung to it nonetheless. One of the maids burst into the room and shrieked at the scene before her, fled into the next room as another manservant entered and covered his mouth with a kerchief.

"Lord Itachi! No, please…" he cried as he fell upon both boys. "Lord Sasuke, you must let him go. You mustn't touch him!" He tried to pull unsuccessfully at the boy's shoulders, but he was shrugged off without a second glance, as the boy sobbed against the figure.

"Itachi, wake up!" Sasuke begged, holding the body. "_Wake up! Wake up,__** please**__! __**Itachi**__!"_

_Sasuke's screams echoed throughout the entire palace, through Naruto's heart until he felt like he was on fire…_

_**Fire!**_

_The palace fire burned bright, from the night Sasuke's parents had been killed. Naruto was amongst the burning rubble, covering his eyes with the sleeve of his hand as a piece of the ceiling collapsed into a pile of ashes and sparks. He moved quickly, knowing that as the flames grew more intense, his chances of finding Sasuke dimmed by the moment. He ventured down the stairs, passing shadows of memories, little tidbits of Sasuke's life at home that were now aflame and disintegrating. Naruto approached the boy's quarters, bashed open the door with a swift kick, and saw the boy there, in the same position, clutching his brother's body. He was unaware of the red-hot flames dancing around his figure, alighting on his sleeve, on his back. He did not scream or cry, merely held Itachi and waited. Naruto could not reach the boy from his current standing point, the fire too hot to pass through._

"_Sasuke!" Naruto cried over the flames, hoping to get his attention. "Sasuke!"_

_The boy raised his head, and before his eyes, Naruto saw him shrink to his child self, tiny, crying, and broken. He was eight years old again, clinging to his brother's dead visage but nearly covered under it. Itachi's body was too great a burden to bear for the little boy. Even if he wanted to get up, he wouldn't be able to. _

_Naruto gathered every spark of will inside his own mind and dispersed a hyper-sensitive jet of his own consciousness into the flames, dispelling them for a moment, long enough for Naruto to jump the expanse and travel to the boy. _

_No, not a boy any longer. Sasuke was himself and as indifferent as ever, raising an eyebrow at Naruto's rash movements. "I told you to get out."_

"_Not without you!" Naruto screamed as he grabbed Sasuke and pulled him upward. Like a ragdoll, Sasuke complied but shook his head. _

"_Why would you go so far for me, Naruto? I'm your enemy. You should let me go."_

"_Listen to me," Naruto said. " I have never met a person of your abilities who was so content to throw his life away! I'd not see you wasted, Sasuke Uchiha!" _

_A part of the ceiling caved in, shattering like glass on the floor beside Itachi's body and dissipating into nothing._

_Sasuke looked down to the wreckage around him, the flames consuming his own body, driving in the points on his arms and neck where the Akatsuki had injected countless vials of Manda, highlighting the marks on his back where he still carried the scars from the mirror shards. _

"_You don't want to die," Naruto insisted softly. "I know you don't want this. Let me help you."_

"_But you can't save me." _

_Naruto extended his hand, locking his eyes with Sasuke's. "Let me try."_

_The boy hesitated for only a moment, but then shut his eyes, reaching for Naruto. And took his warm, massive hand in his. _

**Chapter 5 end. **

**I liked this one. I like Sakura as a person in this series. I wanted to make her important, a stepping stone, a bolster to grow from. I want to make her memories lovely and ethereal because all these gay romances with women as the enemy just distress me. She's such a tiny part in this chapter, but that part is honestly my favorite. **

**Please review for the next chapter. It's good to have feedback. **


	7. Chapter 6

**Before the chapter begins, I'd like to thank those of you who have offered very insightful and helpful reviews. I love the strange support that we all gave to all ladies in the previous chapter. **

**Women are just fantastic. Sometimes. God, I hate bitches though. **

**Even bitchy men are better than bitchy women, amirite? **

**Chapter 6. **

Naruto's psyche struck the walls of his own body like an iron mallet, forcing him physically back in his chair. Sasuke pulled in a violent breath, a feeble cry on his lips. His body was ferociously shuddering, the contoured couch creaking on its hinges while the golden restraining field pulsated in an attempt to keep its unstable charge still. Naruto slammed a fist down on the emergency release panel, extinguishing the field with a hissing motion. Sasuke's body shuddered ferociously; his eyes were rolled back into his brain, while his mouth was open in a soundless cry.

Naruto worked fiercely, grabbing the boy by his shoulders with one hand and putting another on his forehead. "Sasuke, easy," he whispered. "Follow my voice; calm yourself. I know it hurts." Naruto blinked repeatedly, his own heart suffering from Sasuke's emotional discharge. It was so powerful that no matter how he retracted his Chakra, he could still feel Sasuke's pain, as raw and angry as it had been the day Itachi had slain himself. The emotional trauma and resulting loneliness of Sasuke's every day existence would have broken any other human, Naruto was sure. But the boy to this day felt no resentment to Otogakure, despite the circumstances leading to both his parents and his brother's cumulative demise.

Naruto pressed two fingers to Sasuke's temples, lowering his forehead to touch the boy's, despite the incessant shaking. Cautiously, he allowed a trickle of his own Chakra to flow into the boy, soothing away the pain, replacing it with the warmth of his presence and assurance. It was all he could offer Sasuke's trembling cognizance.

For long, unsure minutes, there was no change. Finally, the boy calmed. He drew breath in hiccupping gasps, tears flowing freely from both eyes. The swollen orbs glittered a honey brown, so full of pain that Naruto felt he might collapse under the weight of it. Could a boy so scarred truly be saved?

Naruto could understand fully why Sasuke was desperate for his own demise. He clenched his jaw in righteous wrath, while bending to administer Sasuke a few drops of water. Sasuke seemed to have lost the ability to speak coherently, the few words he did voice were jumbled and confused. Naruto stayed with him for over an hour, placing carefully measured doses of Chakra into Sasuke's awareness to soothe him.

"K-kill me," he panted at last. "You have your information. I'm of no further use to you."

The older man shook his head slowly. He knew full well that diving deeply into the boy's subconscious had left him emotionally compromised, but he couldn't stomach the idea of Sasuke dying.

"You don't have to die. The Federation is fair and honorable to its prisoners of war. You could seek asylum here, assume an alias." He placed a warm cloth on Sasuke's soaked forehead. "In time, you could still be a great help to us."

Sasuke snorted, then shuddered and closed his eyes. "I have no hostage value, _General_. I am under Seppuku orders— to be finished. The virtual signing of my death warrant took place w-when Orochimaru had his second born, and I was bumped to f-fifth in the succession." He sighed and turned his head away. "That is how it is with Misslings."

"Why?"

"I just told you—"

"Why, in the name of all that is good, do your people see fit to kill the extra heirs? Why not disinherit them?"

"Yes…" Sasuke swallowed. He voice still quaked, yet his words did not falter, as if he had repeated them to himself many times before. "Many generations ago, after we'd obtained Oto V into our system— under the old system— there was an uprising lead by two heirs, who very nearly succeeded. They were popular, while the current ruling regime was not. As fifth and sixth to the line of the throne, they were too long down the line to hope they would rule during their lifetime and so they attempted a coup on the current regime. Their rebellion, however, spanned into a fifty-year civil war that nearly tore Otogakure into pieces. The death toll was catastrophic: entire cities reduced to rubble, civilians treated as dogs, women and children forced into servitude and worse to people who had once been their neighbors. Both parties refused to submit or engage in truce talk. Otogakure is a proud system. Winner takes all in our wars. Eventually the rebellion was overthrown, and by Electorate decree, the policy was—" Sasuke choked. —"changed. To protect the succession and to ensure that such a catastrophe never occurred again."

"But when your parents—"

"When my parents were murdered, Itachi was sixteen, two years from his coming of age and two years too young to take the throne. Madara, our uncle, took his place as king; it was to be a temporary situation. But instead of acting as a mere steward, Madara had the Electorate vote to shift the royal line to his sons to protect the succession. Itachi and I were young, and his argument that we were unfit to rule was sound enough to gain support. As such, Itachi and I were demoted down the line. It was then suggested that another uprising could occur as Itachi and I grew older –that we might become jealous of our cousin's places in the line— and attempt a coup, so we were declared Misslings to… _to protect the succession_." Sasuke clenched his jaw. "But with my brother's suicide, the kingdom was in a planet-wide state of grief, and my life was spared by popular demand. However, over time the grief lessened, and I was still a Missling. I cannot escape my orders."

Sasuke glanced up at him. The weariness in Naruto's eyes induced him to add, "But flying was one of my dreams growing up. I was assigned to the first wave. First line, right into the fray, is a common use for Misslings. No drone can shoot quite as well as a trained human being. But now, Naruto, my survival confuses the succession. To protect it, I have to die. I would die a thousand times if it meant preventing another civil war."

Naruto clenched his jaw, blue eyes alight in rage. "But you have no intention of leading a coup. You should allow—"

"I personally may have no intention," Sasuke cut him off, "but there are those who would use my name to rebel in one way or another. My very existence is an example of mutiny that could easily be blown out of proportion. Other Misslings could refuse their Seppuku orders; the common class could begin a rebellion as a result. I could throw Otogakure into complete chaos without lifting a finger, even against my will."

"That's absurd."

"That is politics," Sasuke said with a laugh.

Naruto bowed his head, closed his eyes and sat quietly. Somewhere nearby, a mechanical hum changed its pitch.

"Would you like something warm to drink?"

Sasuke shook his head. Naruto pressed another overhead panel with the stretch of his long arm. A moment later, he pulled a cup from slot on the side of Sasuke's head, drained it, then keyed for another.

"We cannot ignore Otogakure any longer," he finally said at length. "Sasuke, we're going to need someone who can advise us, understand Otogakure thinking and policies."

Sasuke once again turned his head away. "You know all there is to know."

"I know what you have been feeling and experiencing recently," Naruto countered, "along with a few other memories, but the will that guides your decisions is beyond my reach. May I be frank with you, Sasuke?"

The boy nodded sagely.

"During mind access, I have never delved as deep as I have with you. Likewise I have never come from an interrogation feeling as if I know nothing at all. It's as if you're an iceberg, Sasuke. I dove only a little under the water's surface to see your intellectual prowess, but for every bit I saw, I could feel you hide another, greater mass beneath it. It's both frustrating and captivating."

Sasuke found himself suddenly fixated under the Jounin's intense gaze and was almost lost in its depth. He sat up slowly from his sedentary position on the couch. "N-nevertheless, I cannot betray my people," he whispered. "I've done enough damage as it is. If Otogakure were to be destroyed in this war, there would only be one to blame."

Naruto recoiled as if struck. "You don't understand us at all if you think we'd do that. Even in war, to destroy an entire system is both sadistic and wasteful. But you do know that there's a stark difference between the people of Otogakure—" Sasuke felt his face flush and his heartbeat quicken. —"and the government of Otogakure?"

"I… yes, I am aware."

"And are you also aware of the cruelty, greed, deception and arrogance that has surrounded you your entire life, Sasuke? To bring down a corrupt regime like that would ensure peace and advancement to your people, no matter their history—"

"You are speaking of my home, Jounin! Of my nationality and my family! The Uchiha name! What do you know of honor? You're Federate! You sold your soul and your name to be part of a mere _cooperation_ of planets. You think you know something of national pride? When's the last time you even gazed upon your home world?"

Sasuke hadn't realized it, but during his tirade, he'd brought himself to a near standing position. Now Naruto had risen to his feet as well, towering over Sasuke by a full head. Sasuke was no small man. But this Jounin was massive.

"I may be Federate," Naruto said in a deep growl. "But first and foremost I am of Konohagakure, the Fire system. My brothers and sisters are each person aboard this ship, if you wish to speak of family. And it has been six years of tortured longing since I've laid eyes on my home world." He leaned over Sasuke, blue eyes flashing. "I won't have you insult what is important to me."

Sasuke didn't back off an inch. "I'll make you eat those words. You claim to have familial love and pride for your home world and then insult mine?"

"I only would insult the same regime that wants you _dead_!" Naruto shot back, but his expression crumpled the moment the words left his mouth. He'd stepped over a line.

Sasuke's spirit broke instantly, and he lowered his eyes. He couldn't fight back against such an argument, and despite his intense loyalty and unwillingness to change his ideals, Sasuke knew that to the Jounin he must look the complete fool. What sort of man fought passionately for the same system that could discard him like rubbish? It was a constant reminder of the unrequited love Sasuke held for his home.

Naruto stepped closer, wrapped his hands around Sasuke's shoulders. "I apologize, Sasuke, that was out of line."

"Though true," he said tonelessly.

That nervous hum of the overhead panel changed again.

"Under normal circumstances," Naruto said quietly, "you would be placed in cold stasis until the hostilities ended, but I wish to treat you differently. Take asylum, Sasuke. I can sign papers that will give you anonymity and time enough to make the decision for yourself."

Sasuke suddenly felt his legs buckle beneath him and took a heavy seat on the couch once more. "No," he said. "No, but thank you. I expect only death from now on, death with honor. To be honest I'll be glad to have it over with."

Naruto drew up stiffly. "If you won't accept asylum, you'll be my prisoner. The cells here are even smaller than the cabins and uncomfortable. But I will keep you anonymous. Try not to think like a Missling for a few weeks."

Sasuke's head snapped up. "You can read my mind now?"

"No, Sasuke." A smile appeared in his eyes before vanishing in the next second. "Mind access isn't so stealthy as that. It's an unmistakable feeling; you'll always know it. For my part, I swear to never encroach upon your thoughts unless it regards Federation safety. Your mind will be yours."

The dark-haired boy closed his eyes once more, wondering at the strange General before him. What sort of man was this Naruto Uzumaki, to treat an enemy with such kindness? Sasuke balked at the idea of having his heart touched, but Naruto's gestures of trying to save him had truly struck him in the most profound sense. Other than with Sakura, he could not remember the last time he'd felt warmed by another person's presence alone. He opened his eyes to find Naruto's again, to be lost in them once more. They were endless pools of azure, a window to the galaxy of a truly vast mind. Sasuke felt Naruto's proximity; the Jounin was separated from him by mere centimeters. But he felt no sensation of weight or pressure, no invasion into his thoughts. Naruto was scrutinizing Sasuke as deeply as the boy was observing him. He didn't know when Naruto's hands had settled on his shoulders, then chance their way to his neck, but he felt them at rest just at his collar bone: large calloused hands that had no doubt seen battle but now held him with startling gentleness.

"You suggested another name," Sasuke whispered, practically into the Jounin's lips. "Let's make it a common one."

"Then you can keep your given name," Naruto replied in the softest of tones. "What about Tohru? No… Akira as your surname. It's still an Otogakure name and common enough."

Sasuke slowly nodded consent but felt the weight of the gesture as if he'd signed away his love and loyalty in a single movement. Naruto wasted no time in drawing forth the necessary electronic documents, his eyes and hands persistently forceful in the proceedings. Sasuke gingerly placed his hands over the keypad, authorizing the release of the documents to Naruto's superiors and simultaneously accepting asylum amongst the Federate alliance.

His jaw clenched as over and over again he placed his hand on several different pads, finally on the pad that initiated his name as "Sasuke Akira." By the time Naruto finally released the documents into cyberspace, Sasuke's hands felt like they were on fire.

He shot Naruto a glance. If he was reading his emotional tumble he gave no sign. Loosely he perched on the metal-legged stool, both hands on his knees. "Naruto," Sasuke began. Pleased to hear his voice coming out more boldly than he felt, he plunged ahead. "If you won't release me, you owe me the dignity of letting me die peacefully here. I cannot live with the shame of treason."

Naruto blinked. His smile flattened into official impassive-ness. "Sasuke Akira," he said slowly— the new surname struck Sasuke's ears like an accusation— "I want to tell you three things. First, I am astounded that the Otogakure government is willing to waste a person of your talents, and that you are willing to comply. Sometimes an officer finds it his duty to disobey an order that contradicts all reason.

"Second, you want to be admired in memory." His frown-lines softened. "Of course. But the Federacy honors its leaders too. You could accomplish so much among us.

"Finally." He flexed his hands. "I haven't the authority to sign a capital order on one of your social rank."

"Who does?"

"The Regional Council, at Sunhagakure." He challenged Sasuke with a pointed stare.

He ignored it. "Would you ask them for authorization, then?"

"Don't even request it."

"Then, give me a blade. I know how to use it."

"Sasuke." He sounded angry now.

Sasuke's nerve failed. He sighed. "What will my people think of me?"

Naruto relaxed forward a little and furrowed his forehead. "Your fighter," he said softly, "was destroyed: launched from _The Hidden Leaf _and crashed on autopilot near the place where you were captured. So you are free. Your people think you are dead."

Sasuke let the shock charge through him. _Free_. He dropped his guard slightly. It would be good to live.

Naruto fingered his cuff tab. "You can have your honor _and _life, now."

"I don't want your—"

"You don't want to die, 'Sasuke Akira,'" he insisted. "Your people have odd customs, but this practice of 'heir limitation' goes beyond oddity. I find it uncivilized and disgusting to raise a child for slaughter. Look what it's done to you."

Sasuke shifted but went on meeting his stare.

"Where you could have become a leader of your people, you hope to be a martyr. You want to think of death and dying when there are people you could serve, could help, if you put that determination into a field of work.

"Then, you have your flying. Don't you realize what a gift it is? At the very least, you could live as a ferry to escort other refugees like yourself. Perhaps you could lead a cultural exchange that would bring your people into Federate prominence and make Otogakure a respected world. But look at you: standing there, asking me to have you killed. You're young and talented. But branded across your mind is the word 'Missling,' and you're proud of it."

"Of course I'm proud of it!" he snapped, suddenly upset. "My honor is at stake, Naruto. It's as much my part to insist on obeying my orders as it was yours to interrogate me."

The Jounin rose from the stool, scrutinizing him. "As matters stand, you could effectively vanish; but if I issued such a request as you want through channels, it would mean the end of your anonymity, whether or not they granted the authorization to execute."

"I'll take that risk."

His jawline tensed and hardened, and he appeared to be struggling with the decision. "All right, then," he said at last. "I'll send for it now."

He walked to the nearest transceiver, and from a slot beneath it slid a holo-book, similar to the one before. He returned to where Sasuke stood, and drawing a stylus, wrote quickly, using the stool for a table. He signed the paper and then handed it to him.

Sasuke read it carefully. It was apologetic and lacked command, but, amazingly, it was what he had asked of him. "When will you send it?" he asked.

"I would prefer to shred it."

Sasuke remained silent. The last thing he needed was the sympathy of an enemy.

"Now. If that's what you truly want," Naruto said at last.

"That's what I want."

Naruto's eyes accused him, and he knew he had lied, but he said no more.

"I will escort you to your quarters."

"The brig," Sasuke said insistently, "will do."

Naruto nodded his consent after a few tense moments of eyeing Sasuke sternly, but when the young captain refused to give any indication of changing his mind, Naruto was forced to give in. He channeled through one of the adjacent holo-panels, keying for a cell in the brig to be prepared expediently for Sasuke's arrival. The Otogakure captain showed no emotion, locking himself up firmly, as Naruto fastened a pair of steel binders— ones that Sasuke guessed were held in place somehow by Chakra, for there were no clasps or key-holes— onto his creamy wrists.

"The cells here are even smaller, colder than the quarters I could offer you if you took _complete_ asylum here with us. You won't reconsider?"

Sasuke drew up his head sharply, decidedly fixating his attention on some fascinating item on the wall. Black eyes would no longer meet blue, and Naruto sighed once again in tacit consent.

"Come on, Sasuke."

Into the _Hidden Leaf's _data log, over a vast catalog of Sasuke's information taking during the mind extraction, Lieutenant General Uzumaki recorded another name of the pilot captured at Amegakure, and under Sasuke's flight registry was recorded the surname Akira. Sent along with the false information was an encrypted message to Suna, requesting Prince Sasuke Uchiha's termination.

With the promise of anonymity and the possibility of his demise as his only remaining possessions, Sasuke let the Jounin take him into a cold steel holding cell that spread nearly two strides across. His Otogakure flight uniform was replaced with simple black coveralls, his rank, ruby-crested uniform— including any personal article he had on his person or in his ship— was confiscated and placed in small holding bins inside the brig's HQ. As the tide of the battle turned from Otogakure to the Federation's favor, Sasuke Uchiha huddled on down upon a rock-hard cot and cried bitterly.

**Ah, how gentleness can change a heart. Naruto must be quite proud of himself: to change a suicidal wreck into a slightly hopeful (though now heartbroken, poor dear) individual. And with only the sheer force of his charisma! But with such a strong connection nearly formed, how will the upcoming war between test their newly formed friendship?**

**And what if Sasuke's termination request goes through, and Naruto has to kill Sasuke? **

**Well that's next. Review, ask some questions. I'm partial to answering. **

**No females in this chapter. But this is a Man on Man Action story, so having too many females might be distracting. We can't have boobies running about! =0**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey again.**

**Yeah so, on a scale from 1 to Hard, this chapter was fucking HARD to write! **

**And not even the good hard, like pulsating penis hard. It was hard like advanced physics hard!**

**Hahaha, pulsating penis… pffffttttttt**

**Here we go!**

**Chapter 7.**

In his large, comfortable quarters twelve levels above the detention center, Naruto Uzumaki sipped the half empty cup of tea, made a face, and thumped the cup on his desk. It had gone as cold as Konoha rain.

How long had he been staring at the wall?

Clearing the mental images from his mind that had held him hypnotized, he pushed a small rolling chair out from under his legs and spun it about to face the room. A general's quarters were yet unfamiliar to him, the sheer grandness of the furnishings coupled with the unruly amount of space made him feel empty, and he suddenly realized why he barely spent any time here. Part of the inner-tower security quarters, the room had no window, though the walls had been painted off-white to compensate, and a long beachscape, heavy on the purple end of the spectrum, hung opposite the desk. On the room's largest furnishing, a low bed, his midnight-blue duffel still lay open.

He would finish unpacking and then stow it to keep himself from looking like a staring slug.

A muscle in his leg twanged as he got up and he stretched it before crossing to the other side of the room.

Only a small green crystal hooked on a chain remained in the carryall. He frowned, disgusted. He'd unpacked so mechanically he'd forgotten. Sighing with a palm over his face, Naruto sat next to the duffel and absently touched the chain, perusing the cold metal with his fingers.

…A brief moment on Konoha tickled the end of his consciousness, when he'd been sitting at his mother's kitchen table, his tiny legs dangling over the edge of the chair and swinging back and forth. Kushina had been a young widow, Naruto's father having passed on the battlefield just as Naruto had been brought into the world, yet she was never at loss for a wide smile for him. Gently she had placed the green crystal into his fingers and kissed it. It had belonged to his father, she'd said, and would keep him safe from harm.

The exhilaration of such a precious item being put into his tiny hands had been too much for the emotional Naruto at the time. Holding the gem in his hands, he suddenly laid it in his palm out flat and cried joyously, "Go!" The gem suddenly flung from his fingers and spun end over end in the air, hovering like a speeder above his hands.

"Naruto!" Kushina gasped, raising shaking fingers to her mouth.

Surprised, Naruto spun to his mother, the gem falling from its cushion of air and clattering on the floor.

….Nights later, Naruto sat on the bed in his bedroom, fumbling with the crystal. He wouldn't be able to repeat the same trick until his training with Chakra began.

…Naruto had been tested on the Senju scale for Chakra abilities, though at ten he was much younger than the usual applicant. In the testing chambers, he could feel the unfriendly, envious eyes of the pre-teens and teenagers surrounding him. No one conversed with him during the examination, though they seemed at ease enough with each other to talk and laugh. Naruto recalled half of them returning to their homes in tears. Naruto was inducted into the Academy on the spot.

… Young Naruto sat with Master Kakashi in the Academy, head back in a comfortable chair, struggling to focus chakra from a tightly modulated carrier between emotion and his awareness. The intense, painful heartbreak of Naruto's own loneliness served well as a target sentiment…

Absently, Naruto set the gem back down on the desk. The very few people who had finally accepted him in his Academy days had staved off his loneliness. People like Hinata Hyuga, Gaara Sabaku, and Shikamaru Nara had softened the hole of rejection he'd felt he was buried in, though a majority of them had found bond partners. As Naruto was rising quickly in the ranks, they were starting families.

Naruto's romantic dream of bonding the perfect connatural partner the day he found them had yielded to control, for no one in the Academy or in all his travels had the attuned connaturality Naruto desired and needed. His enthusiasm had shifted to his career as the hope had faded and then vanished.

Naruto tugged the chain of the necklace, twirling it absently in his fingers.

How things could change in an instant!

Still guarding his Chakra levels for fear of spiking, Naruto allowed the mesmerizing memories to return:

Body steady, mind prepared, equipped entirely for interrogation, ready for anything after Sasuke's sudden bolt at the door, he'd caught the boy's eyes and took the plunge.

Braced for the suffocating feeling of "otherness," to his astonishment, Naruto felt only warmth. Sasuke's mind was an ocean of thought, flavored like perfume, and the longer Naruto stayed within his mind, the deeper the sensation, the more powerful the sensuality of the connection. Naruto should never have been able to enter into another non-Jounin sub consciousness, and yet Sasuke had taken him into the inner labyrinth of his deepest memories. Though riddled with horror and pain, Naruto could still feel the connection even inside the life-like retentions. In the briefest of moments, when Sasuke had metaphysically taken Naruto's hand, the most charging of shocks had startled Naruto back into his body, though Naruto now realized in retrospect that he could have just as easily been sucked into the boy's mind and lost forever in that connection.

The First help him, Naruto could have been lost in that boy's tantalizing mind forever.

Shaking his head, he cleared the memory again. He should have realized the connection at Sasuke's mental cry on the surface of Amegakure, should have suspected that such an event would occur, but he'd never heard of such a deep interlude with a non-Jounin. Perhaps one had never existed.

But he was a provincial aristocrat, raised in a palace!

_Some things are beyond your control, Naruto._ He could hear the voice of his mentor Jiraya Sannin say between sips of sake. _Even you, Naruto. You can refuse to walk any path you want, for your will and rewards are your own, but some fates will find you._

What would the old man say about being interested bonded to a non-Jounin? An outsider from a hostile, pretentious planet bent on its own devices? But the connaturality alone was not enough to take the relationship further, Naruto reasoned. He had controlled those youthful hopes with great difficulty and now had other things that took precedent over his own emotions. He had the safety of each person aboard this vessel to consider, the planet floating below him, the inhabitants that the Otogakure Navy had bombarded not hours before in a surprise attack.

By the Hokage, even cultural differences were enough to forgo the connection altogether. Sasuke knew nothing of pair-bonding, the complexities of Naruto's race, and Naruto's own will. The boy had no clue of the web of identity and ambition into which he had so easily torn.

Yet Naruto would not deny that he enjoyed the young captain's company. Moreover— he smiled at the memory he'd recalled of himself inside the Otogakure council chambers and later in Sasuke's classroom— the boy found him intriguing.

…The brief moment that Sasuke had taken him on a flight inside his home planet's fighter jet, the exhilaration of the moment that Naruto had felt so clearly. The warm slippage of Sasuke's feeling that had resonated perfectly with Naruto's heart… It was enough to make Naruto shudder…

Sasuke knew about loneliness, about loss and rejection so acute that it had Naruto's own heart throbbing. Yet the boy was determined to retain his honor, the promise he'd made to his brother to love his planet, even down to its flawed, tyrannical government. _Where in all the realms did he get such strength?_

Not for years had anyone broken his concentration in the deep, class-three access of an Intelligence-class prisoner. What were his odds of having met Sasuke in battle? Thousands, tens of thousands, to one?

Naruto realized he was caught: the memories would not be tampered nor would they fade, not if he lived to be a thousand.

Abruptly he forced down the visions, cut off his emotions, and left his face and mind blank, sitting at the edge of the bed.

Sasuke knew not for how long he lay dormant in his cell, his restless eyes glancing to and fro from the full plate of food dropped off that morning to the recent plate of food dropped off not a few minutes ago. Neither had been touched. Sasuke didn't plan to do so.

The cold walls were a dull grey, no windows save for the slot on the lower part of the metal door where the plates were pushed through. A lavatory was placed in the corner of the cell, inconspicuous and clean, not a meter from where Sasuke lay like a rag-doll on his cot.

The relentless throbbing in his head would not stop, no matter how long he slept or stared listlessly at the ceiling. He'd realized yesterday, about an hour into his incarceration, that consuming meals was out of the question. The well-prepared food did not agree with his stomach, would flip-flop raucously in his gut and then evacuate his system within fifteen minutes. Likewise, an unsteady, mean-spirited part of Sasuke's brain roared with indignation.

_Traitor_, it hissed.

Sasuke cringed, and his stomach tightened. If he'd had anything to expel, it would have come out of his panting lips. Now, though, only the uncomfortable rocks of dry-heaving shook him. When he finally stilled, he closed his eyes once more.

A less stubborn man would have called for assistance of some kind, but Sasuke was loathe to open his mouth, gasp for help he knew would be obligingly given just beyond the door where an armed guard was sure to be waiting. Surely, there were easy medical cures for a migraine and a guilt-induced indigestion. But his pride as an Otogakure captain… no, as Royalty, forbade such pleas and clamped his jaw shut. Fitfully, he would lose consciousness and then regain it again. He'd recently recovered from another bout of light sleep before the clack of the dinner plate hitting the floor awoke him.

The _woosh_ of the cell door alerted Sasuke to someone's sudden entry. The boy very carefully rose to a sitting position and beheld a medic, the same as before with her brown hair and eyes. She smiled reassuringly at him as she crossed the cell floor to him, a small hover-cart floating in her wake. "I'm just giving you a quick check-up, Captain," she said quietly as she stood not an arm's reach away. "We often do this with poison victims, just to be sure the dialysis equipment filtered everything from your system.

Sasuke glanced cautiously at the hover-cart. It was mostly empty, save for a few basic medical utensils and a clear gas of red liquid, perched just on the edge of a sterile napkin. Thankfully, Sasuke noted the absence of needles and wondered fleetingly if Naruto had told the staff of his needle phobia.

The nurse neared Sasuke, retracted a small metal cylinder from her hanging lab coat and clicked the end. A small light shot into Sasuke's eye, and he cringed at the sudden brightness.

The nurse shrewdly glanced at both his empty food plates in his moment of distraction. "Not eating, Captain?"

He said nothing, the Uchiha pride flaring.

She _tsk_'ed under her breath. "I would prefer not to have to give you your food through a tube."

"That won't be necessary, I assure you."

"You're making it necessary, _Captain_."

Sasuke quickly looked upward, into the woman's hard brown eyes, and for a paralyzing moment, she reminded him acutely of Sakura. There was the same harsh concern, the same unflinching kindness. He shifted away.

The door to Sasuke's room abruptly slid open, and two armed guards, clothed in proud blue uniforms with delicate red gems on their shoulders, stepped inside. Their military stance was efficient as they strode past the nurse to the bed.

"Captain Akira," the first of them said, a young man with wild black hair and tan muscular arms. "You're wanted on the bridge. General Uzumaki has asked you be brought up to observe the battle."

"Battle?" Sasuke asked uncertainly, a thrill of fear coursing through him.

The young medic stepped protectively in front of him. "No, you can't take him now. The Captain's under my medical supervision, and he's suffering from malnutrition. If we don't keep him resting, he could get… Hey, I just said— _Excuse me_!"

The second of the guards, this one conspicuously wearing a pair of tinted spectacles, blatantly ignored the nurse, fastening tight metal bands along Sasuke's wrists with crisp, centered movements. "Sorry, ma'am, but I'm afraid General Uzumaki's orders supersede yours. You'll have to take it up with him."

He didn't wait for Sasuke to get to his feet himself, dragging the boy from the bed and unceremoniously giving him to his counterpart. Weakened and dizzy, Sasuke could not keep himself aloft on his own and leaned heavily on the first guard, who nodded curtly to the medic.

"Ma'am."

"I'll have you court-martialed for this!" she cried as they literally dragged Sasuke from the room.

Her high-pitched voice, coupled with an equally intimidating threat, reminded Sasuke sharply of Sakura again. The girl's vibrant eyes fluttered in front of his mind like ghost's memories.

"_Sasuke, do you remember when you told me you loved me?"_

_Yes_ he thought numbly as his socked feet dragged behind his limp body. _I remember it now, Sakura. _

The corridors passed in a wild blur, Sasuke's taxed eyes and ears shuddering under the blows of sights and sounds. His head was throbbing, hollow drums beating in his ears. Barely, Sasuke was able to focus enough mentally to ascertain that the ship was in a state of battle. All around him, armed officers literally dashed across his vision, passing his captors hurriedly and ducking into adjacent corridors. Sasuke and his escorts took a lift up to the upper half of the ship, where he assumed the bridge was. Inside the transparent metal chamber, the young captain found himself unconsciously slumping against one of his guards, nearly falling to the cold floor when he was caught.

"Really can't stand, can we, Captain?" one of them, the tan one, asked with a flashing smile. Sasuke dizzily nodded and gripped the man's uniform as hard as he could. "Check it out, Shino. He's a real swooner. You think if I let him go, he'll really fall?"

Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction in surprise, blanching at the impropriety in the words.

The other guard tilted his head slightly, and though Sasuke couldn't see behind the tint of the glasses, he could feel the pair of eyes on him. "I think General Uzumaki might actually let that medic court-martial you if you do."

"Aw, you're no fun anymore."

As the lift began to slow, the first guard gripped Sasuke a tad harder then lifted him forcibly to his feet. "Listen, kid, you're gonna want to try standing up here. There's more high-ranking officers on the bridge than you or I ever want to see in one place, and looking like a collapsing lady in front of them ain't a good idea. You're a refugee, right? Show some backbone and some gratitude. You're alive yet, aren't ya?"

Suddenly wondering whether being alive was necessarily a good thing, Sasuke nevertheless nodded his assent and made an effort to stand, placing one foot in front of the other and bending his knees for extra support.

"There's a good kid," the guard said, replacing his support on Sasuke's entire frame to only holding him by the forearm. "You keep yourself up and move your legs. I'll do the rest, see?"

Sasuke shot a brief look to the guard, who was grinning wolfishly out the side of his mouth. He had kind eyes, like Naruto's. Was everyone in the Federacy so obliging? He perceived two barely distinguishable fangs protruding from the man's lips and realized all at once that he was a hybrid: a combination of human and alien Sasuke had only read about in books. Hybrids weren't especially rare in the larger realms of the universe, especially inside galactic interplanetary communes like the Federation, but on Otogakure, they were considered blasphemous and unwanted. Sasuke himself, as a Missling and an outcast amongst his own people, didn't share the common sentiment.

"You okay there, kid?" the hybrid asked, his face growing a little worried.

"Y-yeah," Sasuke managed, trying to get another foot firmly on the ground. "Thank you. My name is Sasuke."

The guard nodded; of course, he already knew his name. "Kiba Inuzuka. Can you stand alright, Sasuke?"

He nodded. "Why am I being summoned to the bridge?"

"General's orders. Sorry, kid, can't tell you much else. You'll find out when we get there."

As if on cue, the door to the lift slid open with a hiss, and Sasuke was confronted with the familiar sight of an active war-room, though he was almost immediately overwhelmed by the sight. Blue monitors, humming with electric tension, were arranged in descending isles across the front of the massive deck. Attendants and extra crew milled about, issuing and receiving orders, while six or seven overseeing officers, including General Uzumaki Sasuke could see, spoke quickly to each other and then channeled their orders down through the lines until the instruction was enacted. Sasuke could feel the ship beneath him enable full power to its artillery and saw bright flashes of red and green lasers beam from the ship seemingly into an abyss. But in the next second, a flash of blue sprung across the dark gray sky followed by a shrieking frigate plummeting to the planet below.

That was an Otogakure destroyer.

Sasuke jerked reflexively in Kiba's hold, but the stronger and healthier guard held him as if he hadn't moved at all. "Easy, kid," he whispered furiously. "What did I say about drawing attention to yourself?"

Sasuke growled like a feral beast. "That destroyer was—"

"Inuzuka!"

Sasuke was pulled along with the two guards as they both stood at attention immediately. Naruto was bearing down suddenly upon them, two armed officers, probably high-ranking as well, in his wake. His blue eyes were dilated and raged with the calculating wrath of battle. He descended upon the trio and immediately addressed the other guard, Shino, as Sasuke remembered. "What took you so damn long?"

Shino didn't flinch at the obvious hostility in Naruto's voice and merely gestured to Sasuke. "He couldn't walk. We carried him here as fast as we could."

Naruto eyed Sasuke, who was determined not to make eye contact with the Jounin, clinging desperately to Kiba's shoulder and yet trying to act as if he wasn't so weak to save some kind of face. This Naruto, he knew immediately, wasn't the Naruto who had interrogated him days before. There was no hint of kindness in his eyes, none of the gentleness that had seen him off to his cell earlier, and instantly Sasuke suspected the worst.

"Captain Akira," Naruto said tightly. "Your military forces have descended upon civilian homes under no provocation this morning. With flash bombs. We need to know why they would go to such lengths."

Sasuke balked at the sentence. Flash bombs were lethal, radioactive—

They gave no quarter. "Impossible. Otogakure would never attack a civilian city, even if—"

Naruto appeared to have no patience for backtalk. Immediately seizing Sasuke by the collar of his coverall, he literally dragged the limp captain to the front of the war-room where the glasteel windows towered to the ceiling and offered such a clear view of the planet below that Sasuke was nearly overcome with the sense of vertigo. Naruto unceremoniously let him go, unaware of Sasuke's weakness. The young captain did his best to catch himself by tumbling forward on the glass but failed miserably and fell to his knees. Below him, a city once pale and gleaming on the backside of a mountain lay in shambles, half of it buried under extensive rubble and smoke, the other beneath the caved-in mountain, which lay on its side like a downed statue. He'd passed that mountaintop not days before and remembered seeing the outcroppings of homesteads and small industrial buildings, not a single military base in sight. Sasuke had to put a shaky hand over his mouth at the sheer devastation.

"It's the city of Amekuni," Naruto said gravely behind him. "Amegakure's capital. Civilian residents only. No military bases for hundreds of kilometers, though even the ones they had were completely wiped out last night. Now why would they do this?"

Sasuke's lips instinctively slid shut while his mind spun around in his head. The shame, the panic, the knowledge that his friends, even relatives, were bringing about such senseless slaughter sent bile to his throat. Quietly he slid a hand down to his chest and made a tight fist, wishing with all his might he was dead and didn't have to be subject to such a sight. The idea that Jugo, Suigetsu, or even Karin was lost in this mess was almost too much to bear. For the first time, he was glad Sakura had passed to a place where she wouldn't have to see such destruction.

Naruto, however, didn't appear to have time for his emotional dilemma. Without hesitation, he dragged Sasuke to his feet and placed massive hands on each side of his skull. Forcing himself into Sasuke's too quickly for resistance, he flew into the boy's mind and began to extract detailed information. Sasuke convulsed, tried to pry Naruto from him, but was still lost in his own thoughts. The Hokage was like a battering ram against his brain, shattering the outer protective layers with enough force to cripple Sasuke mentally. He shoved all attempts at resistance from Sasuke fevered psyche and plunged past the boy's shock, despair, and shame to unmitigated information: Battle plans from his first run pulled up from the shelves of his mind as well as Sasuke's own curious perusals of future battle plans. None of them included a direct attack on Amekuni, but the Jounin continued. Naruto sampled the files from Sasuke's near photographic memory, reviewed the reasons Sasuke supplied in his own mind behind the attack and brushed briefly over Sasuke's sense of horror at Otogakure's actions. Then finally, he arrived at Sasuke's budding suspicions over the supplies of the lethal stimulant Tenojin. Swiveling like a metal tong, Naruto's psyche struck at the information and drilled into Sasuke to take everything the boy knew about Tenojin, from its location in the Amegakure mountains to how much it cost by the kilo.

Like an arrow being pulled from a flesh wound, Naruto retracted his consciousness abruptly from Sasuke's, leaving the captain to fall back to his knees on the cold metal floor.

"They're after the Tenojin, deep in the mountain… Focus attacks on the aircraft crew and send two full squadrons into the mountainside!" Naruto bellowed. "Shino, you take two good men as a recon squad, stealth. I want to know where every damn soldier is in that mountain before we fire a single shot. Kiba, keep the captain here."

Sasuke heard rather than saw the new scramble that General Uzumaki had enacted upon the already chaotic war room before he was once again hefted like a doll to his feet. The dizziness from Naruto's mental attack didn't subside until nearly a half hour passed by. At that point an attendant, again clothed in a blue uniform, approached Kiba.

"Inuzuka, there's been a ship-wide directive to evacuate. General Uzumaki has ordered that the command ship be put in front of the Otogakure attack ship to block incoming fire to the city. Most of the crew is leaving. The general has given you the option of leaving the ship as well, and we will find another soldier to guard the captain."

Sasuke kept his head down throughout the exchange, silently petrified at Naruto's rash decision. He didn't know the kind of frigate this ship was, but it had to be one hell of a vessel if it was to act as a shield against half of Otogakure's fleet. Either that or Naruto had to be one hell of a commander.

"Nah, I won't leave the captain here all by his lonesome," he suddenly heard Kiba say with a toothy grin. "He doesn't know anyone on this ship, and I wouldn't want the kid getting too skittish, right? 'Sides, I don't think we're going anywhere anytime soon. Not with Naruto at the helm."

The attendant nodded curtly then ran off to report to other members of the crew.

"You really believe in the general all that much?" Sasuke asked slowly. "He's not a god, you know."

Kiba waved his hand dismissively. "God or not, I have no idea. But I'll tell you a secret, kid, 'cause I like you so much. Me and Naruto have been buddies since the academy back on Konohagakure. From the same planet, see? He was in the Jounin program, while I just to be in the navy. But ever since I've known that guy, he's been beating every odd set against him, and he's certainly had pay-offs for it too, you know? Even the Federation is starting to acknowledge him now."

Sasuke perused the deck until he found the shock of blonde hair that clashed against the winter colors of the war room. The towering general was fearsome and incessant, venturing from panel to panel, barking out orders through multiple headsets that he tore on and off his ears, and sometimes even sitting down at abandoned controls to issue further orders first hand. Sasuke saw the command ship's trajectory change with his own eyes, tilting upward to face the oncoming Otogakure forces. Such a drastic measure could be looked up as tactical suicide, but somehow there wasn't a worried face in the entire bunch of soldiers and tech crew dotting the war room.

"Why are you telling me this, Kiba?" he asked quietly.

The brown-haired guard shrugged. "Naruto asked me to personally escort you here today, keep an eye on you. That means, in some way or form, he must respect you. Maybe even like you. I'm just keeping you informed, kid."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and glanced back to Naruto. He was closer now, positioned in between two very large conduits with three techs sitting at each and delegating what Sasuke believed to be the main components of the ship's battle systems. Concentrated and intent, Sasuke couldn't help but be drawn into those impossible blue eyes, which shifted back and forth across data screens. Naruto's neck and jaw were tensed, a bead tiny bead of sweat dragging from his ear to his chin and dangling for a moment at the edge before dropping unnoticed onto his navy uniform. His shoulders, bent for a moment, straightened as he raised his head upward to perceive the sky above riddled in battle.

"General, we've got target issue warnings!" one of the attendants called in a high-pitched voice.

"They've locked onto us," Kiba hissed quietly. "They'd better not fire. Attacking a neighboring planet is one thing, but directly assaulting a command ship of the Federation is an open declaration of war."

"What?" Sasuke cried, jumping to his feet. Kiba reacted faster than Sasuke anticipated, clasping Sasuke's wrists and forcing him into a hold.

"Calm down, Captain," Kiba warned. "Don't get all excited."

"Let go, Kiba! We have to warn the attack ship!" He struggled futilely against the hold on his wrists.

Naruto, from his place between the conduits, spun and regarded Sasuke's heightened stance with impassive eyes, eyes Sasuke could not read.

"They don't know!" he begged Naruto with a scream. "I'm a member of the Otogakure Electorate. It's my job to know interplanetary customs of war, and I can tell you that no one aboard that vessel knows that attacking one of your command ships is a means to engage in war with the entire Federation!"

Naruto didn't need to move a single step closer. Sasuke could feel the energy take his mind, throwing it into every Electorate meeting of war, every custom of the Federation that Sasuke could remember or even vaguely remember. Suddenly Sasuke felt his mind race back to the Otogakure attack ship, its weapons and shield schematics, little bits of information that Sasuke had memorized about the very foundations of the destroyer that some of the engineers didn't even know, and finally to the commanding officer of the vessel, whom Sasuke knew to be General Hikage Kurosawa, a seasoned Otogakure general with as much malice and indifference to human lives as Orochimaru. Having gotten what he needed, Naruto withdrew at once, again with no preparation to aid Sasuke in the release, which left him staggering into Kiba's steadying grip. Sasuke suddenly realized the reason behind Naruto's request for his presence on the deck and nearly choked in complete rage.

"Flag the Otogakure attack ship. Establish a connection," Naruto ordered tersely, turning away from Sasuke.

"Sir, we're flagging them, but no response has been given."

The general walked to the very center of the war room, and Sasuke saw an overhead panel drop about a meter from the high ceiling, scanning Naruto into the system and granting him access to the communication systems. He turned to face one of the techs. "Ready our shields at full power, and I want a full evasive action command on standby as well as all weapons at the ready."

"Sir, you think they'll fire while we're during a communication?"

"Not during. Ready the transmission on my signal." Naruto raised a massive hand then dropped it. Sasuke knew that the Otogakure ship looming like a small moon in the distance was now receiving Naruto's transmission whether they liked it or not in a holographic message. "Otogakure General Kurosawa, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I am in command of this vessel, the _Hidden Leaf_. My subordinates have recently informed me that you have locked onto our ship and intend to fire. Otogakure, this ship now accommodates a Federate peacekeeping force. Any hostile action on your part will be answered by the Federate fleet upon your home system. I repeat, any hostile action on your part will be answered by the Federate fleet upon _your home system. _Respond._"_

Everything grew suddenly still. A small beep, and Naruto nodded toward a Tech by the communications conduit. The man touched a panel atop one transceiver, and a voice filled the room. Of course, Sasuke knew it: As he'd suspected it was Kurosawa. Jugo's uncle and heir of his house, of the Third Wing. "Amegakure Commanding Officer?" it barked.

Naruto stood tall in the transmission field. "Otogakure, break off your attack, or you will be liable to the most serious consequences."

Kurosawa spoke again. "Amegakure Commanding Officer, we will receive one negotiating party of your top people to discuss reparations for the damages suffered by our Navy. You have ten minutes in which to launch a negotiators' shuttle. We will guarantee the safety of those negotiators only."

Sasuke winced. That did sound like Kurosawa.

"You will be unable to send for additional ships, Amegakure." The Otogakure voice sounded firm and menacing. "We guarantee the safety of one negotiating team. We give the rest of Amegakure no guarantees. Commanding Officer, you have nine minutes in which to launch your shuttle."

Sasuke wished heartily that he could disappear.

The bright blips of the Otogakure Navy continued to advance within the screens of the techies. Nine minutes crawled by, and then Kurosawa spoke again. "Amegakure, your time is up. Have you no one whose life you value enough to send us?"

A scout transmitted a report, relaying the information to the loud speakers so Naruto could hear. "_Hidden Leaf_, this is Kai at nine-seven by two. The settlement at one-oh-six has been bombed. Looks like another flasher. I can't get any closer for the dust and the rem count."

Sasuke recoiled. His own squadron had overpassed that community, nothing but a hydroponics plant and a few colonists' domes. Surely it hadn't been flash-bombed! Use of the photon-enhanced nuclear weapons was forbidden by all manner of treaties that even Otogakure claimed to support. He'd known they were in the arsenal, as weapons of last resort, but they'd never been mentioned in drill or lecture—and these were civilians.

Sasuke could feel the breath catch in his throat, preventing him from pulling in oxygen. He longed for the red sensors on the monitor's bright screens to diminish to a healthy blue, indicating at least that the main Otogakure ship had disengaged. No such action occurred. Helplessly, Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut at the stubbornness and pride that was fueling Kurosawa, Orochimaru, the Electorate. Otogakure was strong, but Sasuke could feel the Federation's power after being lost in the bowels of its command ship for days. If Otogakure fought, they would lose.

"Please," Sasuke whispered frantically. "Please."

"Last chance," he heard Naruto offer one more time.

To Sasuke's horror, the screens on the command ship deck all abruptly flashed a bright, terrifying orange, and high-pitched sirens echoed up and down the halls, nearly deafening Sasuke's sensitive hearing.

"General, they've locked on our coordinates! And the city! They're firing on the city!"

Sasuke couldn't stand still a second longer. Breaking suddenly from Kiba's hold, he bolted back to the glasteel windows at the front of the war room in disbelief. He saw the missile-like lasers roaring not only on the command ship but down to the already beaten turf of Amekuni. "No…"

On civilian homes. Otogakure was firing deliberately on civilian homes and simultaneously dooming itself to a bloody war with the Federation.

"No!"

"Engage the shields!" Naruto bellowed quickly. And I want every single one of those blasts brought down, you understand me? Not _one_ hits the surface!"

Blinding light and the power of the command ship's blasters nearly knocked Sasuke from his feet, but he righted himself by holding his hands on the glass before him. They shakily framed the attack ship in the distance. It sent out another cascade of deadly fire, once again aiming for the surface as well as the _Hidden Leaf_.

"They're trying to divide the fire," Sasuke whispered to himself in disbelief. "They think that if we're trying to save the city we'll leave ourselves open to attack."

But they didn't know the capabilities of this ship, Sasuke thought to himself in utter despair. An error that his home planet would pay for in blood.

Kiba's firm hand on Sasuke's shoulder startled him into looking at the grim-faced man. "Lovely folks, your Navy."

Sasuke choked and turned away.

"We should get you below. This is going to get ugly. And long."

"No, please," he said breathlessly, fighting off the urge to sob with whatever pride he had left. "I want to stay."

"The brig is safer…"

"Being in the brig won't keep me alive if we go down. Let me stay, Kiba."

Kiba paused and gave thought to the argument. He shrugged. "Sound logic. You can stay, but I'm off to the fray, kid. You'll have two guys here watching your back, so be good. Don't try pulling that 'get up and run' shit like just now, or they'll lock you up, understand?"

Sasuke nodded sagely. "Thank you, Kiba. Good luck."

The brash man actually laughed. "Luck ain't got nothing to do with it, kiddo!"

**Yeah, battle ships on hostile planets are HARD to write! Oh my gourd! I think I might put out the next chapter sooner, though, cause I liked it better than this one. **

**This one be all like "Goon, you suck at writing! Why you choose science fiction, dumbass?"**

**Reviews really help a lot. I like hearing what you guys think of everything. And honestly… they give me energy to publish!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Thank you for all the reviews. I try to reply to the longer ones, but I've become overrun with business of late. **

**In dedication to:**

**The one who said they couldn't write essays because of the suspense… I know the feeling and have published early for you, love.**

**Chapter 8. **

Kiba had been right. The battle was ugly. And long. Sixteen hours into the fray, and Sasuke felt as if his eyes were attempting to blind themselves. They raged in pain each time he blinked, while his legs felt like puddy when he shifted. Behind him, his guards had alternated shifts, sometime two at a time, sometimes one, but always in two-hour intervals. Certain tasks had to be accomplished by certain individuals, Sasuke reasoned briefly, so rapid shift changes were to be expected. No one, thankfully, had attempted to move him. They had let him stand rooted to his place, watching before him as the Otogakure fleet mercilessly attacked both the surface of the planet and the Federate fleet, which despite having fewer numbers, was somehow winning the battle as far as Sasuke could see.

Naruto had not once sat down since the battle had begun, Sasuke observed. His men as well had remained vigilant under his command. Throughout everything, Naruto had remained quick, decisive, and yet somehow calm. With him in the room, Sasuke realized, the entire staff felt the exact same way. The normal panicked cries that erupted in a normal war situation were completely lost in the Federate war room. For a while, Sasuke bitterly assumed that it was because the Federate troops were trained with superior techniques as well as superior equipment until he'd overheard one of his guards describe the battle as "surreal."

"Never been so calm in my life," one of them whispered to the other. "You think that Jounin's messing with our heads?"

"Don't care," the other replied. "We're a damn well-oiled machine under that guy."

The battle carried into the depths of night, where Sasuke had to strain his eyes further to see the bright laser blasts. He thought back to his initial assault on Amegakure's plains and remembered the rush of adrenaline that accompanied the descent and further battle. This warfare was the opposite: sickening and drawn-out. Every explosion across the sky could have been Jugo, Karin, or Suigetsu. One of the guards behind him spoke again, and Sasuke didn't recognize his voice. They must have changed again.

"Naruto's itching for a fight. Bet you five thousand ryo he gives executive power to General Nara and goes out with Delta Squad."

_Delta Squad_, Sasuke thought mechanically.

"That squad is scary," the other responded quickly. "You ever see them in formation? Black cruisers, really tight line-up. Never seen anything like it."

Sasuke's memory abruptly flickered back to his first run over Amegakure's surface. The attack squadron that had somehow slipped by their shields, blasting Sakura's fighter into a billion pieces on the surface. _No… Could Naruto have?..._

Sasuke hung his head. Did it really matter?

"See? Told ya."

The words made Sasuke spin, having just enough time to see Naruto cast another headset aside, approach a dark-haired man also with general's colors, and place a hand on the man's shoulder. The other general nodded grimly as Naruto departed, reaching into a holster at his hip and retracting a com-link as he approached Sasuke with quick, calculated steps.

"I want Delta Squad ready in three minutes," he said into the com before flicking it off. He regarded Sasuke's guards. "Matada, Toko. You two and Captain Akira stay away from the boards. There's no point in me staying here any longer."

"Sure, General."

Sasuke felt the need to say some sort of good-bye. "Naruto, I—" But the words died in his throat. The shame, anguish, and confusion he felt in his soul too much to convey in mere words. He could barely look into Naruto's eyes, but when he did, he felt such an odd sensation of warmth and comfort pool from them, intentionally soothing his worries.

"I know, Sasuke," he said quietly.

Minutes later, Naruto's voice also joined the other captains' as they barked out orders through their com-links. Sasuke's anguish had somehow doubled, his eyes feverishly scanning the horizon line and jumping whenever a flash bomb or a particularly large explosion screamed across the panels. Finally losing feeling in his feet, Sasuke sank down, mentally and physically exhausted and stiff with his inability to move.

"Captain, would you like to sit? There are stools…" Sasuke turned to one of the men who had spoken, either Matada or Toko, but he confessed he didn't remember which.

"No," he said wearily. "I don't want to be taken from the window." They both nodded consent and left him be. Sasuke felt his heart race as another explosion rent the air. What if Naruto…?

He had to stop himself from thinking for a moment before he finally realized the mutinous thoughts running for hours across his brain. How could he be so worried over Naruto, a Federate and the enemy?

_Because he's treated you with more respect and kindness than all your superior officers and even your family?_

That was reason enough for Sasuke to reach out, he realized in shame. That he would be weak enough to suddenly become attached to the first person that'd shown him unconditional kindness other than Sakura was humiliating. But with Sakura gone, his suicide attempts unsuccessful, and now the further mortification of his home planet's murders of civilians, did Sasuke really have much of an option?

Naruto too could be taken in this battle.

Sasuke didn't allow his mind the possibility of such an occurrence, and as the eastern sun of Amegakure finally dawned over the rain-filled horizon, Sasuke heard Naruto's voice once again over the com system.

"All cleared out here, Command. Delta Squad returning to base."

A ragged cry sounded over the dimmed war-room, followed by the furious reports of victory from the Techs in the room. Otogakure's military forces, Sasuke saw clearly in the dawn of the new day, were shattered across the Amegakure plains, while the destroyer fled before Federate forces. Sasuke had to fight to keep from sobbing.

In another hour, one of the doors to the command deck slid open, and suddenly the air in the room changed, pulled out furiously from the number of gasps and joyous shouts flying in the air. Sasuke turned hesitantly to see Naruto surrounded on all sides by his fellow officers, clapping him on the back, cheering at his return. Even the general from before approached slowly to shake his hand. Sasuke could bear to watch the celebration no longer, his mind fixated on the downed fighter pilots below and begging with everything in him that it wasn't one of his friends locked in the piles of melting metal. Though, he thought bitterly, even if they made it back home, their Missling status would doom them soon enough to an early demise.

Sasuke flicked eyes back to the victory party, which was slowly yet surely dispersing around the generals, both Naruto and the other man, who remained talking for awhile, more than likely discussing further strategy. The battle might have ebbed for now, but Naruto must have known enough from Sasuke's memories than to think it was completely over. Despite that, the young captain noted that while satisfied, Naruto carried himself with an air of exhaustion that Sasuke could easily feel given his own state of fatigue.

The general approached, nodded at the two guards by Sasuke's side. "Good work, lieutenants. There's another run being done on the southern side of the planet. They're in need of tag-wing operators."

The men by Sasuke's side stood stiff at attention, saluted, and then departed from the command deck in search of fighters. Sasuke attempted to keep his raw emotions in check for fear the powerful Jounin could sense his disquiet, like breathing heavily in the dark.

Naruto stood behind Sasuke for a few tense minutes, minutes where Sasuke could feel the sweat accumulate at the base of his neck and drip down his back in a steady current, while his eyes remained fixated out the window, as they had been all night.

"I need sleep," Naruto abruptly said. "So do you. And frankly I can't spare any more men to guard you here."

Sasuke didn't respond for a moment, his eyes scanning the ground below his feet, the red and black fighters of Otogakure burning haunting images into his mind that he would surely have nightmares about. Sakura's imploded body was out there somewhere, scattered amongst the ruins of possibly his other friends' fighters, rotting under the morning sun. For a mind-shattering second, Sasuke could have sworn he saw the tiny flits of strawberry blonde hair dance across his vision, not a meter outside the window. Sasuke choked, covered his mouth with a shaky hand.

Naruto abruptly grabbed the boy's arm, forcing him away from the window. Sasuke hadn't realized his own tears pooling into his eyes until they were full and forced to spill onto his coverall. He kept his head low, unruly long hair left in front of his face as Naruto lead him down corridors, past security guards, down the lift and once again into the detention facility. To his cell.

He coughed a strangled sob as Naruto keyed in the passcode for the cell door to open and pushed him inside. Before Sasuke could react, he felt the warm, encompassing arms of Naruto fold around his entire torso and lock him into an embrace. He didn't think to push the Jounin away. He collapsed mentally and physically into his arms, clinging for dear life. The crushing sensation that he might die from this heartbreak nearly threw him into hysterics, but Naruto's presence was a blanket, soothing and comforting.

Naruto's hands stretched over Sasuke's spine, moved upward to grasp the back of his head and hair, pushing the boy farther into his chest. The mortification Sasuke should have felt at such a ridiculous display of emotion was overshadowed by the sheer security Naruto provided. Sasuke could feel the sensation of Naruto's consciousness gently press into his. The taste of Naruto's agony at the sight of Sasuke's pain was overwhelming, and the boy longed to soothe it despite himself. His body acted of its own accord as he placed his hands across Naruto's back and buried his head into the thick, tan neck of the Jounin. Time was irrelevant in comparison to such an embrace, but Sasuke could suddenly feel his reserves of strength, under the strain of the long hours of standing by the window coupled with the grief and shock of Otogakure's actions, finally reduce to nothing. Limply, he nearly collapsed to the ground, but firm hands caught him, brushed sweaty and tear-stained locks of hair out of his face.

"Sasuke," he heard Naruto whisper, and his voice cracked with emotion.

Unable to move in response, Sasuke helplessly allowed Naruto to place him on the low cot that served as the cell's only furnishing. Despite laying him down, Naruto kept his hands constantly on Sasuke, and the boy was grateful for it. They served as an anchor to solid ground. If he had the strength to grasp them, he would have to stifle some of the miserable grief still warring inside of his chest.

"You feel so acutely," Naruto said with a wince, pushing a hand into his own chest as if he'd felt a pang there.

Sasuke finally met the Jounin's azure eyes. Gone was the power of command, and in its stead was a depth of understanding he had known only in Sakura.

Oh, Sakura… dead. As he wished he was.

"No, Sasuke," Naruto begged. "Don't—"

"Don't read my mind!" he gasped in anguish.

"I can't help it." The Jounin placed hands on either side of Sasuke's face. "You've been raised as nothing but a body, a number, expected to have no emotions, yet despite all your attempts to satisfy their rules, you feel things more deeply than any other being I've ever touched. Your pain, your loss, your torture under their hands… Everything you feel at once, and it is too much. I can grasp all of it, even with the greatest surge of protection I can muster for myself. You've rent every barrier I have in two and invade my thoughts, Sasuke."

The young captain choked out another cry, horrified that someone as powerful as Naruto was forced experience his weakening emotional anguish.

"Look at me, Sasuke," Naruto said in a whisper. "I can help you, if you'll let me. I can calm you. Some of this is my fault anyway."

"Y-your…?"

"Will you let me help you?"

Nearly shattered, Sasuke could really see no other option but to nod tacit consent. And Naruto then did the strangest thing of all. Like a lover, Naruto pressed himself down, nearly covering Sasuke with his larger torso. And then taking Sasuke's head into his hands, he lowered his lips to the boy's forehead. The sensation of lips kissing him unlocked the awareness of warmth, calmness, and ease upon his fevered mind. Sasuke ran to the feeling with all his might, throwing himself inside it, while exteriorly he wrapped weak arms as tight as he could around Naruto.

He honestly didn't know what was happening to him, to his body or his heart, as he clung onto the Jounin. The overwhelming, all-encompassing Jounin, who could tear Sasuke apart if he wanted to but instead showed him kindness, respect, and now affection that Sasuke had no idea he craved so desperately. And Naruto did not take advantage of his weakness nor mock him for it. He held Sasuke, so tightly that the boy thought for a moment that maybe it wasn't him who was weak at the moment. Though as the minutes ticked away into nothingness, Sasuke felt his agony ebb and a startling clarity replace what had once been muddled with the effects of exhaustion and his own pain. Naruto could feel it too, he knew, for the Jounin released a breath, almost like a sigh of contentment.

"There," he breathed into Sasuke's ear. "Better."

Slowly, he pulled away, and Sasuke felt the bitter emptiness of his absence as soon as the body heat was retracted. But he felt the serenity of logic take control rather than his emotions and was able to lean upwards into a sitting position. The previous experience, he realized with sudden clarity, was by no means natural or even under his power.

"You…" he said suddenly.

"I'm sorry." Naruto cut him off. "What happened to you— Just now— that experience— That was not your doing. It was mine."

"How could…?"

"We're like-minded, as I said before. It's something of a side effect of being amongst someone of my… abilities. With you… we have…" Naruto suddenly stopped, and to Sasuke's surprise, actually laughed. The sound was melodious and filled with a big, toothy grin, which clashed so profoundly with the Naruto that had been in the war room that Sasuke for a moment could not believe they were the same person. "This is hard to explain," Naruto admitted. "And you have no idea… Listen, Sasuke." He stood quickly, putting distance between them that Sasuke reflected was unnecessary. "When Chakra is added into a mixture of two people very like-minded, they often share emotions with one another. Your… situation here, your feelings about the situation, I should say, was amplified because of my presence. Because I accessed your mind and we connected so strongly, every emotion you've been experiencing has been increased exponentially. And to protect myself, I shut you out. I felt the serenity of having no emotions in the war room while I unconsciously… I thrust them upon you."

Suddenly Sasuke realized why Naruto had put proximity between them. A shudder of unadulterated fear shook him to the core.

The serenity the guards, the Techs, the soldiers had experienced in the war room, Naruto's calm stance during the entire event: all of it was because Sasuke had taken the brunt of the entire room's emotional castoff. Naruto had taken it and unconsciously thrown it upon him. Shocked, Sasuke recoiled with a wince.

Naruto closed his eyes and turned away, almost as if he'd been struck. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. The things happening recently, with you, I have never experienced anything like them before. In my ignorance I know I've harmed you, and for that I can't express how sorry I am."

A numbing silence descended over the tiny, grey cell. Both men stood opposite each side, until Naruto all at once dipped his head in a tiny bow and made to leave.

"I can't be part of that."

Sasuke's voice startled Naruto in the cell's doorway. He nodded slowly. "I know. I'm sorr—"

"No, Otogakure," Sasuke cut him off. "I can't be apart of that. They killed civilians, Naruto. Innocents. The fighters, the crew— I'm with them. They're just following orders. But the Electorate, the generals, my _family_… the butchers." He grit his teeth.

"What are you saying, Sasuke?" Naruto asked in a whisper. He stepped back inside the room.

"I want to live. A little longer for now, I'll say. I'm not worth much, but I won't let them get away with using my people as instruments of murder. In light of everything, I want to live."

In disbelief, the Jounin took a single step forward. "That would mean you would release yourself into my protective custody. That we would… that you would at least see me again. With what happened today, I would think—"

"Nonsense." Sasuke stood to his feet, suddenly standing the tallest he had in days. Somehow he wasn't so dwarfed by Naruto's imposing height. "You've treated me fairly, no— treated me with _more_ kindness and equality than I have ever been treated by a non-Missling. I'm no woman, Naruto. I won't be so shocked that I can't stand someone's presence. Despite everything my people have done to prove themselves to be cruel, selfish bullies, you have treated them— _me_ with decency and respect. I want to live… Though if those termination papers I requested are sent through, that won't matter anyway."

Naruto shook his head. "I doubt they'll go through on first request. You have too much potential to be of help to us. The Federation wouldn't see you wasted."

"Good then."

"_Good then_?" Naruto repeated incredulously. "After what happened today, after _everything, _what I put you through, you can just tonelessly say that you're suddenly cured of your longing to die?"

"Cured, no," Sasuke said bitterly. "But I can't allow myself to associate with murderers. I can't stomach it, not for all the love I have to give to my homeland." He screwed his eyes shut and thrust a hand over his eyes, as if the light of the cell was suddenly blinding. "What happens to me, Naruto, if they don't issue those termination papers?"

"I've given thought to that," Naruto said softly. "Would you go home, Sasuke?"

_Home._ The thought stirred up tortured longing in Sasuke's chest, but he knew the fate that awaited him there. The information Naruto extracted from Sasuke's psyche would be looked at as bartering with the enemy, especially since Sasuke failed to kill himself upon capture.

It would be a public execution. Orochimaru would do his best to make it the spectacle of the year. The Electorate would like that. Sasuke swallowed dryly, unable to stomach the humiliation. "They want me dead."

"Yes." Naruto held Sasuke's gaze.

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter then, does it? Here or at home. I'm under Seppuku."

"You could fit in among us, Sasuke… if you wanted."

Sasuke interlocked his fingers and squeezed tightly. So. He had a choice he thought long taken from him. Life among the Federates, whom he'd been raised to hate, or the proud death of a Missling, to satisfy the bloodlust of the Otogakure Electorate.

Sasuke's spirit rebelled at last. He'd hide on Suna—or in deep space if needed— before giving Orochimaru the satisfaction of witnessing his execution.

"No," he said quietly. "I wouldn't like to go home."

Naruto stayed beside the far wall, unmoving, unthreatening. "Then you'll let me take you into my protective custody?"

"Am I that helpless?" he whispered.

The Jounin didn't respond, offering a sad smile only.

"And if the termination request does go through?"

"I simply don't give the order. Especially if you requested Total Sanctuary."

"Alright." He took a deep breath of stale air. "I'm officially requesting Sanctuary of you, Naruto."

The Jounin burst into a wide smile. "Hang on a moment. I'll get the paperwork."

"Oh, it will wait for morning," Sasuke said with a sigh, sitting lamely back on the bed.

The Jounin stopped in the doorway. "I don't want to risk it. Shouldn't take long."

Naruto left the room and did not return for several minutes. Finally, the cell opened once more, and Naruto returned with an assortment of paperwork. The decision to live frightened Sasuke, the boy realized as he placed his palm on the digital scanner, officially recording his true name into the Federate system. Never before had he had the prospect of living past the age of twenty. Though death, he realized, might not be too far off after all.

"Naruto." He looked up to meet startling blue eyes, too deep to fathom the soul behind those orbs. "Thank you."

The eyes smiled. "I'm glad to offer it." He stepped back a little. Against the gray walls, the color of his skin, eyes, and hair almost seemed to leap out at him. "Sasuke, are you as exhausted as you look?"

"I didn't… sleep." He shook his head, haunted by the images of the downed fighters laying in the mud below the command ship.

"May I— I could help you with that. Easily, if you'd let me. Though if you refuse, I wouldn't blame you in light of what has happened."

"Our like-mindedness you mean?" Sasuke asked slowly. "Are we really so similar?"

Naruto replied with some hesitation. "In the… strangest of ways."

Sasuke reflected for a few moments but honestly could think nothing but well of the man standing before him. "Help me sleep," he said finally, sitting on the edge of his cot. Naruto very slowly sat next to him, placing hands on either side of the boy's head. Gently, he then placed his fingers over Sasuke's eyelids.

"Will I dream?" the boy whispered.

Naruto's voice was soothing. "If you wish."

Sasuke could feel the effects of Naruto's presence already affecting him. His limbs began to feel like lead, and without his consent, his body slipped backward to land on his pillow. Naruto followed his motion, keeping his fingers over his eyes.

Sasuke's words slurred when he spoke. "Why are you so kind to me?"

"Because you're you."

"Heh, what a romantic sentence. You're…" A yawn, drowsy. "You're just like me, Naruto."

"Hmm, in what way?"

"You might... be as lonely as me."

Sasuke's body slackened like a doll's as he fell completely under Naruto's sway and into a deep sleep. The Jounin quickly covered up the surge of emotion he felt at Sasuke's words for fear the boy might be able to sense it and wake suddenly. As he left the cold cell, he thought for a brief moment that his chest might just explode.

**Another update. **

**Please show some support and review! Reviews make me oh, so happy. Enough of them and I'm sure I'll update faster… Oh, my, what was that? A bribe? Goodness, how corrupt! **


	10. Chapter 9

**Oh, Lordie, another chapter again. Thanks so much for those of you who took my previous bribe ;) I'll tell you that it made this chapter (guhhh so hard to write!) worth all the while! **

**Chapter 9. **

It took a full fifteen minutes of pacing up and down one of the hallways adjacent to the war room for Naruto to finally calm his racing heart enough to step inside. Sasuke's words rang in his head like the Academy bells back in Konoha, loud and ominous over the landscape of Naruto's heart. Outwardly, however, he appeared calm, collected, and in charge, barking out a series of orders for status reports. The situation on Amegakure still deserved his full attention. The good news was, based on the intelligence coming from preliminary scouts, the Otogakure fleet had retreated off-planet completely, falling back out of the atmosphere into their own territory by midday. Naruto made the announcement over the loudspeakers to the joy of the crew.

"Sir, we have incoming on the far side of the planet."

Naruto turned to one of the holo-boards, eyes scanning over the coordinates the Techie had indicated. A series of gold blips floated onto the screen, honing in on their position, and Naruto allowed himself a wide smile. "That would be the cavalry, a little late though. When they send out the docking ships, be sure to put them into one of the smaller hangers. The main deck's still under repairs."

"Yes, General."

Naruto pulled away from the Tech and approached General Shikaku, who eagerly clasped his hands with a smile. "Federate reinforcements, Uzumaki?"

"Yes, sir. They should be here in a few minutes."

Shikaku nodded. "Very good. I'll attend them when they get here and submit a preliminary report. You need time to clean up."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked down to his uniform. Spattered in mud and dampened from the rain, it looked a little hellish compared to the crisp, clean uniform he was accustomed to, though Naruto admitted that he hadn't changed the thing since the initial attack two days ago. He nodded and put out another terse command to the lieutenant next to him to notify him the moment the Federate vessel was within docking reach.

Naruto hadn't stepped into his quarters before the lieutenant dutifully contacted Naruto on the com-link and informed him that the Division Commanders had docked in the Secondary Docking bay. Naruto quickened his pace, undressing while simultaneously stepping into the narrow porcelain shower. The warm water struck Naruto's skin like a blanket, and he longed to simply stand in the downpour but didn't have the time to do so. He spoke into the com-link sitting on the small shelf just outside the shower.

"How many Division Commanders have arrived, Lieutenant?"

"All of them, sir."

With a light curse, Naruto doubled his pace and threw himself from the shower, pulling on clothes and boots in a flurry of fabric. Somehow, the entirety of his commanding officers had come onto his ship, and he wasn't even there to greet them!

Pushing the heat-sensitive plate to release the door to his apartment open, Naruto nearly jumped at the sight of a shock of black hair and amused dark eyes.

"Iruka!"

General Iruka Umino of the Federate Navy seized his arm at the doorway and pulled him bodily down a dark corridor to the galley. "Naruto! By the realms, we thought you'd taken too much kill-care when that troop request got through, and I don't mind telling you if it'd come from anyone else, we'd have sent the psych team instead of warships! What kind of fools attack a peacekeeping force? The clincher was that termination request. I think you owe a big explanation!"

Naruto had to quickly gather his emotional response to Iruka's sudden presence to offer something quick in return. Naruto studied his old friend as he was pushed down hall after hall toward the galley. The lines on Iruka's face had grown slightly, gathering at the eyes and around the curves of his mouth in smile lines. Clothed in the standard military dress of a general, he cut a full figure, but, remarkably Naruto thought now, stood nearly a head shorter than him, about the same height as Sasuke.

The two generals finally arrived to the galley, a sparsely lit room on the far side of the ship from the war room.

At a long, gray table ringed with officers, Naruto took a chair. Another Jounin sat among them, Major Hinata Hyuga, and as their eyes met, he sent her a quick unspoken greeting. She returned it with a burst of feelings he felt clearly, relief foremost among them.

_Is Gaara here? _He asked within the innate link between them.

_Yes. He's with Shikamaru and his father on the command deck. Said he was needed there rather than in here, but they're both anxious to see you._

Naruto shot her a quick glance of understanding but out of respect to the others present, neither subvocalized further.

"When we heard that Amegakure truly _was _under attack," said another officer, "and we saw the amount of debris, we thought we had all sent you to your glory. What in hell happened out there, Naruto?"

Naruto was offered a cup of tea, which he gratefully took from an attendant. "First, sir, tell me if I worded that termination request weakly enough to have it denied."

"Heavens, yes!" Iruka sank into the white chair and put a hand through his slightly graying locks. "Didn't sound at all like you, Naruto."

The Jounin smiled into his cup.

"How in Six-Alpha did you manage to get a member of the Otogakure Royal Family in your custody, kid?" one of the older generals questioned in awe.

"It's a very long story." Naruto told it at length, brushing from the first attack on Amegakure to Sasuke's recent request for Total Sanctuary. When he finished, they were silent. Naruto smoothly let his Chakra barrier down to gauge for emotional responses.

Hinata Hyuga spoke first. Through her calm and carefully selected words, he felt her unease and cautious concern.

"Naruto… if I'm out of line, you can silence me, but, what do you plan on doing with him?"

Naruto had to be careful to keep his emotions in check. "I don't know. I've only just convinced him that he doesn't have to die."

"Otogakure might want him back," one of the officers said gruffly. Naruto recognized him from one of his first interactions with the Federacy, a stately pallid gentleman. "They might demand him as part of negotiations. What would happen to the boy if he were sent back there?"

"Firing squad, I think." Naruto thought back to Sasuke's contorted face in his cell, terrified of accepting help from the enemy but equally opposed to facing an unjust demise. What would have happened if Naruto had sent an attendant to take Sasuke to his cell rather than escort him personally? 

"That won't do." Iruka folded hands in front of his face. "He could be of such use to us, for bartering with his people for some sort of peaceful solution."

"Sasuke's informed me of his status amongst the Otogakure Electorate. He has less political influence than a dead man, as far as they're concerned."

"And amongst the commoners?" another asked.

Naruto thought back to Sasuke's attempts to keep his advancement bay during the interrogation at. At times, Sasuke used inconsequential memories of him walking down the streets near the palace, how people would smile at him, beckon him to small shops, and offer him gifts. Sasuke had even himself mentioned that the common people had given an enraged uproar in the aftermath of Itachi's suicide, when Sasuke had been declared a Missling publicly.

"He's greatly loved as the Third Prince," Naruto could say clearly. "But what the common people desire and what is decided upon are very different things."

"Then he can be an asset! At least to his people he has value, and that is something. We can plan to simply unhinge the Electorate from their power."

"Then it's decided," Iruka said grimly. "Full-scale attack; we _have _to take them now. Naruto, your access intelligence will be critical."

"It's all on cross-programmable record aboard the _Hidden Leaf_."

"Yes, we requisitioned _Hidden Leaf _when we heard about your data disks. But we had no idea your sources were this good. The rest of the Division should be here within a day; that will give us just enough time to speak with His Highness."

Naruto cast a glance around the small cabin. "Be careful with him. He's not strong enough yet to rule out the possibility of suicide. He knows what that data will mean to Otogakure. He has a capacity for loyalty under circumstances that we would consider impossible, and a craving to excel. In time, he could be just as effective in _our _cause."

Despite his carefully impersonal phrasing, he felt Hinata's jealous horror flash past her control.

"Very well, General," said an officer on his left. "Have you any other advice in our dealing with this boy?"

So Jounin reaction was beginning, and Hinata had been the first to correctly read his protective actions. "Get him safely to Suna," he said with deliberate calmness, "as quickly as possible."

Naruto left the meeting room before Hinata could solicit him further. Her unsteady reaction to Naruto's slip of feelings was slightly overwhelming, but now that he knew that Gaara was in the vicinity, he felt he could have some sort of release if he could just talk to the man.

The command deck was up ship, and as Naruto neared it, he could feel the experimental brush of another Chakra source. He welcomed it gladly, like the handshake of an old friend. When he did finally enter the sliding doors into the war room, he knew Gaara's position immediately, not only by the flash of crimson hair sticking out raucously against the muted tones of the room but because of the emotional pull Gaara was intentionally giving out. Both he and Shikamaru, another of Naruto's oldest friends, stood on the flight deck near Shikaku Nara, speaking in subdued tones.

The men had changed physically since their last encounters, Naruto thought briefly. Against the Amegakure skyline, Shikamaru's tall, proud stance and heavy limbs struck Naruto as slightly unfamiliar. His tanned face was also a change, as Naruto's memory held the Jounin as a naturally pale man. Though, he thought with a smile, living on one of the sunniest planets in the nearby system could do that to a man. Gaara's face, Naruto saw, was as pale as ever, bright green eyes intent as he conversed with Shikaku regarding strategies for upcoming battles. Gaara still possessed a slight figure, thinner, smaller than both Naruto and Shikamaru, yet the Jounin did not appear dwarfed next to the taller men. Sheer supremacy exuded from his body like a secretion and affected everyone around him. Whether consciously or not, everyone offered respect to Gaara Sabaku.

Shikamaru, the First help him, had become permanently bonded to Gaara's sister on the first day the two had met in their Academy days. Temari Sabaku's abrupt marriage to Shikamaru had been one of the most famous of Academy tales and had somehow left a deep imprint on Naruto. He'd longed for the same level of instant connaturality that had given Shikamaru both a wife and a brother in literally the same day. All three of them had been assigned as high-level officers on Suna for the past few years, with Gaara being the highest ranking of the three and the most powerful.

For indeed, if there was someone in the universe who could attempt to rival Naruto's innate abilities as Hokage of Konohagakure, it was Gaara Sabaku. With a Senju level of 93, he was the only one to remotely come close to Naruto's power level.

Shikamaru was first to speak, offering a slight grin at Naruto's presence. "Well, well, there he is." He clasped hands with Naruto, letting down his Chakra field to show Naruto how pleased he was internally with the man's presence. "Good to see you. And I'll say, nice work here, Naruto. Anyone else, and they would have lost."

"Anyone but you," Naruto replied good-naturedly. "You'd have had them beaten and cleaning up after themselves too."

"Now that just sounds like a damn pain in the ass."

Naruto's smile softened slightly. Shikamaru hadn't changed at all, lazy as ever despite somehow securing the position of regional Colonel at Suna.

Gaara was another story. He'd risen in the ranks just as quickly as Naruto, but something had tied him to Suna, more than likely his sister and new brother, giving him the position of regional General of the entire Federate forces at Suna. Federacy wise, he outranked Naruto by several steps.

The red-haired general wasted no time with pleasantries. He immediately lowered all static Chakra shields and invited Naruto to do the same. _Something's different, _he stated mentally.

Naruto fought the smile about to steal over his mouth and felt a surge of happiness at Gaara's abrupt nature. Naruto was soon to be deployed along with the Otogakure siege force as the leader of Delta Squad and had no time to mince words or feelings. If he wanted to truly confide in his friend, it would have to be now.

_I must speak with you. In my quarters if we can. I need some space away from other Jounins._

Gaara nodded slowly and turned an eye to Shikamaru, who was already waving the two of them off lazily. Naruto released a burst of psychic thanks and then stepped quickly in front of Gaara, leading him down to his room.

"I haven't much time," Naruto said on the way. "But I feel I have to acquaint you with things happening to me, before I leave for the siege. I need guidance."

Gaara's mental state changed quickly as he followed the taller man._ This must be serious._

When they finally arrived inside Naruto's room, Gaara sat calmly on the edge of the only chair beside the wide bed. Naruto sat opposite him and closed his eyes.

"You should speak with me first," Gaara said, and it was the first time Naruto had heard his friend's voice since he had last seen him a year ago, when he'd passed Suna on the way to the Otogakure Electorate meeting. At that meeting he would see Sasuke for the first time, though he would have no idea of the boy's significance.

"I've…" Naruto began slowly, reigning himself in. He'd have to let Gaara see into him one trickle at a time for fear he might overwhelm the other Jounin with the weight of his feelings. "I've encountered someone, Gaara. Someone whom I'm connatural with on the most… intimate of levels."

Gaara masked his surprise well, but Naruto could sense it stir like a current under his calm demeanor. "This person is Jounin?"

"Not at all. Though with the way I can sense him and he me… I don't know."

Gaara slowly let down his Chakra barriers again, giving Naruto the signal that doing so as well was acceptable.

Naruto complied slowly, allowing Gaara to feel his experiences on the command ship, the unexpectedness of the attack and his orders to dispel it, the shock of Sasuke's first emotional cry and Naruto's quick decision to apprehend him. Naruto allowed Gaara to peruse the memory as if he were living it, allow him to feel as Naruto had felt. When Sasuke's shriek of mental horror hit Naruto's memory, Gaara pulled up his shields instantly and leaned back in his chair.

"This _is_ serious," he said out loud.

Naruto swallowed, knowing the reason behind vocal communication being the intensity of his own feelings. "I know."

"_Tell_ me what happened next, Naruto. I have to ready myself to be shown."

Naruto relayed the information carefully, but unlike with the officers before, he included his thoughts and feelings, as well as his insecurities, in his tale. The interrogation, Sasuke's suicide attempts, Sasuke's strengths and weaknesses, his past, his brother, his sense of justice and his horror that his home planet laid waste to civilians.

_Show me what happened in his cell this morning, Naruto. _

Naruto hadn't yet gotten to that part. He swallowed. _How did you…_

_The memory clings to you, on the forefront of your mind, like a scent. I can smell that boy on you. Hinata can too, on some level, I'm sure, though she's not nearly strong enough to read you. That was why I felt her unabashed dismay earlier._

Naruto shook his head slowly and chose against commenting about Hinata for now. Gradually, he opened his mind like a glass case, pouring forth the memory. Gaara examined every detail of Naruto's emotions, and finally when the exchange was over, pulled in a deep, shaky breath.

_You're right. The connaturality is frightening. To the extent where he latched onto your emotions during the battle and syphoned them from you onto himself. All subconsciously. _

_Naruto, if you are to remain near this boy, you're going to have to protect yourself. That or Bond him as quickly as possible. _

"Bond!" Naruto gasped aloud. "He's an aristocrat, Gaara! An enemy aristocrat at that."

_Your soul doesn't seem to care._

"My soul…" He clenched his teeth and reigned himself in once more. "I know in my youth I subjected myself to more than my fair share of follies because of my soul's desires, but Gaara, honestly, I thought I outgrew that."

_I don't think there was anything to outgrow. In our youth you expressed to me the desire to be bonded, and I believe now as I did then that having a connection like that would be good for you. A tempered desire is still a desire. You've traveled alone in this universe for long enough. _

"You're overlooking his status, though. His position amongst the Federates, his own people—"

_I'm looking at the one thing you're not. Your heart. You can't deny a connection like that. _

"I can try."

_That might destroy you._

"Sasuke knows nothing about our customs, my feelings—"

Gaara stared sharply at Naruto. _Your going to sit there and attempt to tell me he has no inkling of what has happened between you two? On outsiders, I have heard of Jounins having intense emotional pull toward a person, while the other remains ignorant to it, but the boy has seen enough of you to know that something is certainly up. _

"Gaara, I've just convinced him this morning that he didn't have to die," he said softly. "He's broken, weak now. He can't have an inkling of what I… what I want with him."

An elegant, brown eyebrow rose and Gaara leaned back in his chair, gracefully putting fingers the nearby table. Almost absently, he eyed Naruto's green-jeweled necklace, which glittered in the sparse lighting. "You asked me for guidance, Naruto. For counsel, yes?"

Slowly, Naruto nodded.

"I've offered it. If you want him— No, if you're that _connatural_ to him, pursuing him is not only what would feel good to do but what you should do. However, I recognize your responsibility to the men aboard this ship, as well as your duties regarding the Otogakure invasion. Do your duty, Naruto. Lead the siege, take the government, give yourself some time. But if you return and feel yet the same way, then I advise doing your very best to procure your desire. That's all I can say for now."

Outside, a warning bugle echoed across the ship's corridors, informing crew that the _Hidden Leaf_ was changing course.

"We'll be swinging past Sunagakure within twenty-four hours and from there you'll pass to Otogakure," Gaara said, standing to his feet. _Rest for now, old friend. You look exhausted._

Naruto nodded consent as his friend departed from the room, leaving him in cold silence. At the edge of the desk, the green jewel glimmered in the dim light of the overhead unit.

Sasuke awoke to the sound of slapping metal from the floor of his cell. A small silver plate, lined with a well-balanced meal of beef, an odd fruit Sasuke had never seen before, and a few supplementary tablets, glinted at the young Captain with a sinister edge, as if mocking him.

For Sasuke knew that the first condition of his acceptance of Total Sanctuary would be living, and to be honest the concept petrified him. This sudden emotional jolt of pure panic spurred Sasuke's body into quickened action, and before he could think, he was shoveling the first whole food he'd consumed in what felt like weeks into his drooling mouth. After devouring the contents of the plate before him, Sasuke huddled into the corner of his cell and stared vacantly at the wall for over an hour.

Was this how living felt? This stark sense of helplessness? Sasuke had no purpose, no possible means of finding such a purpose in his current captive state, and an entire lifetime of memories and loyalties to obsess over in the meantime. What would Itachi think in his disgraced grave that more than likely would be uprooted in the coming siege of Otogakure? What would Sasuke's honored parents think of him? From their places in the afterlife, would they scorn him for such abrupt and complete rebellion against his home? Or would they rejoice at his decision to take hold of his own life? And Sakura…

For an agonizing moment, he pictured her smiling face next to that of his parents and brother and nearly broke into tears at the thought. He already knew what she would say to him now.

_I'm so happy for you, Sasuke. You've got to live for both of us now. It was all worth it if you're alive. _

Sasuke huddled back into his knees and closed his eyes. Given the same opportunity, Sakura would have instantly thrived amongst the Federates. Her talent for making friends and her kindness would have granted her instant sympathy from every soldier aboard the ship, and in no time she would have procured for herself a station amongst them as a productive member of their society. But Sasuke, despite being gifted with life, remained helpless and undeserving.

Abruptly, the boy felt something, a light stirring in his chest. Just as he lifted his head to the door, it slid open. Naruto, clothed regally in dress whites, looked like a lord.

"Naruto?"

The Jounin grinned lopsidedly.

"Your uniform, Sasuke." He laid it on the cot. "The officers who came in with the fleet want to talk with you about those termination papers."

Sasuke stood to his feet, clenched his fists at his sides. "What will they do?"

"Just talk. They've been in contact with Suna."

"Does... everyone know I'm here, then?"

"No. Only Regional Command, and these officers. But they want to discuss that, too."

Sasuke began to unwrap the parcel. "All right, Naruto. I'll just be a minute."

He left, and Sasuke dressed hurriedly. Official again in Otogakure black with the rubies glittering on his collar, he found himself standing straighter than he had for a long while. Sasuke forced a comb through his hair and greeted his reflection in the cracked mirror. A light stubble had accumulated on his jaw, and his hair had unfortunately grown to a wild man's length in the time he'd been imprisoned, but Sasuke somehow liked the strange reflection in the mirror. _Welcome back, Uchiha. You always were the rebel of the family_.

Naruto stepped back in. Sasuke saw the corners of his mouth twitch into a smile, and met it with one of his own. "I feel like an officer again."

"You look it, too." He motioned for him to lead him down the passway.

At the conference table in the war room, five more officers in white scrambled to their feet when Sasuke and Naruto walked through the door. The soldiers' heads turned in sudden surprise. Sasuke, undeniably nervous among so much Federate authority, still felt flattered that they had met him in dress uniform.

"Your Highness." The brown-haired man who stood nearest extended his hand. Sasuke clasped it boldly. The kind-eyed man before him certainly didn't look as if he had brought his death warrant.

"Just Sasuke, or Captain," he corrected gravely. "Please."

A few of the men glanced at each other.

He took the nearest stool, at the head of the table: one self-conscious soldier in Otogakure black facing six in Federate white.

Naruto introduced the officers, but they seemed a blur. The nearest, General Umino, did nearly all the talking. "I'm not sorry to tell you that the Regional Council declined to authorize your execution, Captain. General Uzumaki says you have now applied for asylum."

"Yes. The matter of Amegakure has always lain between myself and the rest of the Electorate, but what Otogakure has done here in the last few days lies very heavily on my conscience."

Sasuke closed his eyes for a brief moment, attempting to gather himself. "There is also the matter of a secret Tenojin project my cousin, Orochimaru, has long had in plan. I believe that Amegakure was raided for the purpose of obtaining this Tenojin chemical, but for what use I know not. But I would like to help you ensure that this Tenojin project will not be developed, as much for Oto's sake as for yours."

He glanced around the table. They scarcely reacted, and from that he assumed, they already knew about Kabuto's research. How quickly Naruto must have disseminated that intelligence! General Umino and the other three men looked thoughtful, although the woman Sentinel— now that he thought a bit, he recalled Hinata Hyuga from Roushi's holograph—scrutinized him, and even Naruto, with something resembling reproach.

"Yes." Umino glanced to Naruto. "We are aware of the Tenojin project and we share your determination to see it ended. From here, we proceed to demilitarize Otogakure. I say this without malice, Captain Uchiha, but your Navy will be badly outgunned."

Sasuke bristled, but he had to concur. The ache and regret awoke again.

"Do you understand that your name—your real name —will most likely be used in negotiations?" Umino asked.

He glanced uncomfortably to the starmap, the windows, and the various consoles, where an unoccupied pair of Techs sat with eyes to their consoles but ears to the conference table.

"In what way?"

Umino leaned forward, both forearms on the black tabletop. "Captain, your people should know that you are safe. Their impression of the Federacy is in transition. We cannot allow this challenge to peace to go unmet, but our long-term goal is mutual respect. It is our policy to strike quickly, and mercifully, and to allow our enemies to return as soon as practicable to home rule.

"We have received your claim that you have no worth as a hostage," he went on, "but your presence among us is of great importance still. Our treatment of you will have a strong influence upon the Otogakure public, as will your request for asylum. Furthermore, you are yet a potential source of information and advice."

Remembering his interrogation on board the _Hidden Leaf_, Sasuke looked hard at Naruto, and the Jounin returned the stare frankly. Did they mean mind-access? he wondered. Naruto might be ordered to question him again; Naruto, or another. Sasuke glanced cautiously at Hinata Hyuga and then back behind her, where two other men stood in silence, dressed similarly to the Federate High-Ranking uniform Naruto had worn before changing to the whites. By the stars conspicuously placed on their collars, he could tell they were high-ranking officers but somehow had managed to stay out of the negotiation talks. He wondered briefly if they were Jounin like Naruto. One, he saw now, turned to the other, and something of an exchange seemed to pass between them, like an unspoken or whispered phrase. Both of them then turned to eye Sasuke, who had to lower his gaze to the other female Jounin. She was slimmer and more handsome in person than in holo, Sasuke reflected briefly.

The boy lowered his eyes. "So you intend to inform Otogakure that I've sought amnesty?" he said to the table slowly.

"We'll likely be telling them the whole story, including your final actions as a squadron leader, which speak for themselves, and what General Uzumaki has called your 'astonishing' effort to resist mind-access."

Startled, Sasuke looked his way. This time Naruto looked down. Pleasantly surprised, he turned back to Umino. "Where are you sending me, then?"

"We would prefer to see you under protective custody at Regional Command on Suna. I hope that is acceptable to you."

"It is," he sighed. It seemed that he was going to see the universe after all. Sakura would have cried for joy.

"Very well, then. We'll meet again, Captain. Thank you for cooperating."

Sasuke winced at his choice of words.

Naruto stood as he did and led him away. Downstairs in front of Sasuke's cell, Naruto paused briefly. Behind him Sasuke did the same and could feel something in the pit of his stomach stir again, a fleeting emotion that was similar to adrenaline and nervousness, yet at the same time it held such an unexpected and dissimilar flavor to the other two emotions. Sasuke took an experimental breath to try to calm himself and felt that it worked as Naruto slid the cell door open.

When the door slid shut behind them, Naruto did not say anything for a few tense moments. The feeling in Sasuke's belly intensified.

"Naruto, what is it?"

The Jounin seemed to rein himself in. "I'm going on to Otogakure with the fleet as soon as I can pack, and I won't have time to say good-bye later."

In the yellowed light, he looked up into his face, finding it hard to imagine living among the Federates without him. "Thank you, then. Watch out for yourself."

"Don't worry. Our losses should be extremely light— but that doesn't make you feel any better about what we're going to do to Otogakure, does it?" He peered down sadly. "I'm sorry."

Indeed Sasuke feared terribly for his people. Impulsively he clutched Naruto's broad arms. "Please, don't..." He caught himself, choking on the plea for mercy. Otogakure had opened this hopeless war. He felt helpless, horribly so. How many would die this time, as Sakura had?

"Sasuke…"

The boy realized his compromised position, jerking away from Naruto as if burned. "I—I'm sorry, Naruto."

"I understand."

Naruto offered no comforting platitudes, but his stare lingered long enough to set in Sasuke's memory an expression that would haunt him for weeks: lips straight and bland, stress lines crowding his bright eyes, and a look in those eyes that might have been pain.

The Jounin took two steps outside the door and did not look back as it slid shut.

**Chapter 9 end.**

**It feels like this was a short chapter! Then why in Christ Jesus's name did it take so damn long to write? **

**Well, at least I got me some Gaara/Shika in there finally. I freaking love those two dudes. As well as Hinata! Watch that girl, because you know how I love to make my ladies be big parts of my plots! Oooooh, ladies! **

**I wanted to have those three in my story because out of the general vicinity of Team Seven, in the manga and anime, they all have interesting relationships with Naruto. Gaara served as a foil to Naruto before he became good, and then they were like brothers. Shikamaru becomes Naruto's advisor (and I personally think that his position as advisor is going to continue when Naruto is Hokage) and Hinata truly loves Naruto, the only female who loved Naruto even when he was a class clown. **

**So there's the rationale for having those clowns!**

**Dude, totally listening to the Bastion soundtrack right now… fuckin' makes me want to go to a western town and fuck shit up!**

**Oh, and review. Almost forgot to beg for that…. **


	11. Chapter 10

**Ready for some Sci Fi goodness? No? Me neither… **

**You should probably review. I got shit done like that!**

**Chapter 10. **

Naruto combed a rough hand through his short blonde locks impatiently as the _Hidden Leaf_ rounded a small moon, leaving the command ship in sight of Suna. A pile of printed documents lay before him, somehow exponentially growing by the hour and nearly covering the war room conference table entirely. Naruto gestured a blue-uniformed attendant over to pick up a neat stack of papers, sending him down to the archive rooms to store them.

There were simply too many problems that required his attention on this vessel. Irritated, he flicked through a series of papers noncommittally and placed them down. General Iruka Umino, with experience on the Federation's Board of Protectorates, was the logical man to replace him on Ame; in retrospect, it seemed odd Iruka had not received the original assignment. _Bureaucracy_, he commented silently.

For himself, he had to go out with the fleet. Even had Delta Squadron not been so ordered, he must see Otogakure. From Sasuke's memory he almost knew it already, but not in his own flesh. Why that mattered, he was not quite certain.

Naruto frowned. He had worked on and off with Hinata Hyuga for several years, and she had demonstrated a clear wish to share deep connatural probing with him, but Hinata simply did not appeal to him in that way. Now, he faced a quandary. He did not like assigning her to escort Sasuke to Suna, but he had no other qualified officer to send. He would have to rely on Hinata's vesting vows to keep her from shaking Sasuke's emotional balance, on Hinata's intense loyalty to the Jounin kindred and her racial and familial pride to make a teacher of her, and on Sasuke's innate curiosity to cement the relationship.

Naruto dearly wished for a moment that he could confide in Hinata as he had Gaara. A gentler, possibly less concreted, view of the situation might gain Naruto some clairvoyance, but with Hinata's preliminary reaction so decidedly negative, he thought it best to keep his thoughts to himself as much as he could.

As if following his line of thought, Naruto felt her presence approaching not a moment later. The door to the command deck slid open gracefully, and Naruto could feel the shift in the room immediately. There were few if any women on this particular Federate ship that could rival Hinata's intense beauty. Her silky locks were pinned up in a long ponytail, yet somehow she didn't look an inch more masculine from it. Even her uniform curved with her body and shifted correctly to her as she walked.

"When do we depart?" she asked aloud, leaning down to survey the vomit of paperwork strewn across the desk. Naruto thought briefly of the first time he'd ever encountered Hinata, back on his home planet Konoha. A few years older than he, they had not met until Naruto was bumped up to a higher-level training course a full cycle ahead of his fellow classmates. She had been petite, lovely still, but painfully shy. They hadn't spoken any words, be they mental or vocal, for over a year before she'd finally addressed him. She'd clung to him mightily in their teen years, but as Naruto departed for the Federation and subsequent promotions, their contact with each other had been few and far between.

"I'd like you on escort duty, Hinata." Naruto said to her quietly. "Would you volunteer?"

"Escort?"

Another aid passed by Naruto's desk, quickly taking a packet of documents the Jounin hurriedly thrust into his chest. "Lord Uchiha," he said, appearing distracted with his task yet carefully constructing the words. "Minimum-security detention on Suna."

Hinata's chakra field expanded quickly, guardedly. "Suna is an optimal assignment," she said. "But I was originally assigned to General Umino's administrative counselor. Don't you feel I should stay with him?"

"Umino will stay on Ame, and he'll have plenty of aid from the staff I'm leaving behind here."

Hinata took a moment, and Naruto felt he had to stop, glance in her direction. Without warning, she placed a hand on his arm, turning him toward her. "Naruto, something's wrong. Won't you show me your feelings for him?"

Jounin ethics dictated that he must grant such a request, and Hinata would need assurance if he wanted this time to go well for Sasuke. Naruto cleared his outer chakra shields and raised feelings that would not distress her: pity, understanding, optimism. Hinata's feathery touch, connatural enough to caress—although the "otherness" felt distinct to Naruto—swept over his surface emotional presence.

She pulled back and stood erect. "Naruto, be careful."

Doubtless, knowing as the Hokage he was able to conceal most emotion under inner, deeper blockages she could not even sense, Hinata would guess more than he had shown her. "I am always careful, Hinata."

The girl drew back stiffly, chakra field enabled back to its initial fogginess. "Very well. The boy has been through torments, but from what you've shown me he could be useful to the Federacy. I'll instruct him."

Naruto held back a smile for her sake and nodded. "Thank you."

Within a day, the rest of the Second Federate Division reached Amegakure, Naruto was told. The last ships of Otogakure's strike group fled. One small Federate shuttle picked up Sasuke from the _Hidden Leaf_ and a few other passengers and streaked on to Suna. From another, Naruto transshipped to the Federate cruiser _Hanami_. Half an hour later the division slipped, bound for Otogakure in pursuit.

As a Jounin, Naruto was required, despite his high rank, to take the orders assigned to him. The Major General of the _Hanami, _Ebisu, requested that Naruto be brought on as his second in command. "You handled Otogakure well in the fight for Ame," he said grimly, fingers splayed over his spectacles. "I'd like your help with these ruffians on their home turf."

"On the bridge, sir?"

"Frankly, I like my bridge a little on the empty side," Ebisu drawled. "Just have your squadron briefed to continue without you, if I need to call you in."

Naruto nodded.

"Naruto?"

The familiar voice caught in the Jounin's ears as he turned to see a strapping young man, dark-haired and bright-eyed, stepping in behind Ebisu.

"Konohamaru," Naruto said warmly, taking the young man by the arm and giving him a firm shake. "You've grown." Indeed the handsome youth, though a little lanky, rivaled Naruto's height and even exceeded it by a centimeter or two. The boy's blue uniform fit crisply, as if it had not yet seen much service and worked well with his tanned skin and bright eyes. Naruto could feel the experimental brush of Konohamaru's honest feelings of joy at seeing an old friend, and returned them in earnest.

"I'm taller than you now, eh? Grampa's been asking about you. I'm happy I'll have something to tell him."

"Nothing too extravagant," Naruto said with a ghost of a smile. "Wouldn't want the old man to have a heart attack. Tell him I've been working at a desk."

"Desk indeed!" Konohamaru exclaimed. Unruly hair fell out of place, which the young man smoothed to the side. "I heard about Ame back at the canteen. Looks like I'll have to work harder to catch up to you. I've been Ebisu's advisor for nearly a year now. The guy won't let me go anywhere, even home sometimes!"

Naruto let his mouth settle into a rueful grin. "The price of servitude."

"No fit work for a Jounin," the boy grumbled but then smiled. "But he's a good guy."

Naruto would have responded, but Ebisu called for the boy before another word was uttered. Surprised and pleased at finding another Jounin with him, Naruto quickly searched out his cabin, which was a thankfully smaller affair than his other quarters had been on _Hidden Leaf_. Passing the R&R center, Naruto resisted the urge to join a group of casual friends to a game of Cho-han bakuchi. He felt his energy reserves lumbering on empty and knew he needed to get some uninterrupted rest.

He caught a full eleven hours of sleep in his cabin before the attack force's rendezvous, in which the crews were transshipped for battle. On a huge fighter carrier escorting _Hanami _he rejoined the pilots of Delta Squadron, and the carrier accelerated back into slip-state to make the final jump to Otogakure.

On their fifth day on Suna IV, the newest capital of the Suna system and the Federacy's regional capital, Hinata arrived early in Sasuke's minimum-security rooms. A subtle change in her cosmetics and hair hinted at important dealings.

Sitting at the small, efficient servo table at an inner corner of the anteroom, Sasuke pulled a pale green audio rod from the little program-viewer unit he'd been issued by the tower library. "Good morning, Hinata."

"What was that?" She nodded toward the rod.

"Sunagakure music." He hoped Hinata would feel his wry amusement. "It came with that assortment from the library yesterday morning. It's very… different."

Hinata's face, much like Naruto's in a tense situation, did not even twitch in response. "Different cultures often produce different music."

The bland, generic answer was typical of Hinata and had Sasuke on edge already. Four days of knowing the pretty Jounin woman, and she was as cold and terse as every non-Missling student at the Academy, if not worse. Where their censure had been a general hatred for the Missling class, Hinata's disdain seemed bent upon him personally. Either that, or she was simply _like that_, though Sasuke doubted it upon hearing from one of the guards that she was a personal and close friend of Naruto. For that reason alone, he'd attempted to make nice with her.

He stood slowly, stretching out a small twinge in the back of his thigh before approaching the woman. She was tall, not so much as to tower over Sasuke as Naruto did, though Sakura's petite frame would have been nothing to the woman Jounin's. "Are you going to stay a little longer today?"

"No. I have a meeting with the Council up-level, in half an hour. Just an introduction, I believe. They have little time to waste, and I am to make a quick, full report on your status."

Sasuke blinked and felt a thrill of fear at having once again being the topic of conversation of peoples and worlds he had no knowledge of. "Regional Council?"

Hinata ran a finger along the rough brown stone-form wall, toward the door's inner locking panel. "Half an hour, so I'll give you fifteen minutes today."

Sasuke's jaw tightened only a fraction, and he sat down once more. Despite Hinata's initial coldness to him, he found that each time they spent time together, the Jounin warmed to him considerably, though this only occurred after nearly an hour of dry conversation. In this favorable mood, she would teach him the ways of the whorl in small increments Sasuke could understand easily. As his only companion on a strange planet, he depended on her. She was the only being he'd been permitted to speak openly with since he bid farewell to Naruto nearly a week before.

"Is there news," he said finally, "of Oto—"

"Nothing new since yesterday," she cut him off.

This was also typical of Hinata, Sasuke thought bitterly. Sighing, intentionally allowing the sentiments of annoyance branch out of him so she could feel it, he stared out the nearby window. The tower in which both he and Hinata had been assigned security rooms was known as MaxSec, she had explained, for Maximum Security. Eighty stories tall, its silvery walls encompassed offices, laboratories, security apartments, and shops. It was designed like a fortress, with a security system developed by the finest minds in the Federacy. Sasuke was given rooms near a group of out-system diplomats on the thirtieth floor, although-unlike those of the diplomats— his lock-panel opened only to Hinata. Escape would have been impossible. Still, he had examined the broad, gridded window carefully and even given it a suspicious touch the moment Hinata left him alone. He was glad of his caution when the sting from that momentary contact left his arm limp for an hour, barely able to unpack a small kit and two changes of gray shipboards. 

Within a day of his arrival, he'd been able to identify several classes of local aircraft from staring out that window over the capital city of Sato. The volume of traffic in and out of a parking bay above his window confirmed that much administrative activity was conducted in the high tower.

"What of Naruto?" Sasuke said without thinking.

Hinata's eyes, normally blank and expressionless, narrowed a fraction. Sasuke felt a stitch of something on the lower side of his ribs and unconsciously rubbed the aching spot.

"I believe he is well," she said shortly. "As far as I know—"

Hinata stopped abruptly, raising her head.

"Hina—?"

The Jounin woman quickly got to her feet, stepping into the walkway of the small apartment and jamming a hand into the flat panel on the side. With a sharp hiss, the door slid open, and two figures, ones Sasuke recognized from the conference room aboard the _Hidden Leaf_, stepped inside. Suddenly both self-conscious about being so informally clad before two high-ranking officials and voraciously pleased at having new company, Sasuke hardly knew how to present himself and awkwardly got to his feet, the wheeled chair flying from beneath him.

The taller of the two men, dark-haired and tan, chuckled under his breath as he strode past Hinata and into the room. The other man, his hair a shade of red Sasuke had never before seen on top of a person's head, stayed behind in the doorway with Hinata.

"You must be Lord Sasuke Uchiha," the dark-haired man said, extending his hand to shake his.

"Captain Uchiha," Sasuke corrected quietly. "Or Sasuke, please."

"Right, right, sorry," the man, Shikamaru, said with a dry smile as he released Sasuke's palm. "Titles are a pain. Besides, it's easier to remember. You can call me Shikamaru. Colonel Shikamaru Nara is my full title."

Sasuke nodded and allowed himself a miniscule smile at the strange man. He'd never before met a Colonel who presented himself the way Shikamaru had. The man leaned on one leg, hands in his pockets and an unlit cigarette dangling at the edge of his lips, as if he were an easy-going old man rather than the impressive uniformed member of the Federacy.

"You enjoying Suna, kid?" Shikamaru asked lazily, slapping himself down in the high-backed chair in the center of Sasuke's living room.

"As much as I've seen, yes," he offered noncommittally. The view, he thought honestly, certainly _looked _lovely. Though he hadn't seen the other side of these walls since his arrival to judge for himself.

Hinata and the other Jounin walked into the antechamber in the next moment, and Sasuke abruptly felt a sudden pressure in the back of his mind, similar though more comfortable to the sensation of Roushi's mind-access tutorial on Otogakure. The red-haired Jounin, as if sensing this, pulled back abruptly and seemed to survey Sasuke.

Shikamaru leaned forward in his chair. "There any tea in this place?"

Sasuke started at the man's voice but quickly composed himself, suddenly aware that perhaps they were all trying to read his emotions. "I don't think there is time," he said very slowly, "before the meeting." He met eyes with Hinata, who was as blank-faced as ever.

"Meeting?" the red-haired man asked her.

"Regional Council wants a full report on the boy."

Sasuke felt distinctly irked that firstly she spoke about him as if he were not there and then failed to address him with any respect in front of superior officers.

"Perfect!" Shikamaru said with a slap to his knee. "You'd better get going to that, Hinata. Wouldn't want the Regional Council getting upset with you, now would we? We'll keep the Captain company here."

Hinata made a distinct eye contact with Shikamaru that lasted an unnaturally long time to be a common glance, then looked suspiciously at the other man as well. Composing herself— for Sasuke could almost feel the tendrils of anger wash around her— she bowed, murmured a goodbye, and slid out of the door without another look to him. Such was his only companion, he thought.

"Tea?" the red-haired man asked as he sat down next to Shikamaru.

Sasuke nodded and moved quickly to the adjacent room that served as both a kitchen and dinette, preparing tea in the quick-maker by the old thermal heater. He arrived back in the room with two steaming cups and cream inside a small bowl on the side. He served both Shikamaru and…

"My apologies," the red-haired Jounin said. "I haven't introduced myself. My name is Gaara Subaku, Regional General of Suna."

Sasuke nearly dropped the platter in his hands. "I see." _Regional __**General**__?_ _What in __**hell**__ do they want with me?_ Taking the wheeled chair, he sat and waited expectantly while the two powerful men before him sipped tea and said nothing. In the silence, the energy of the room shifted slightly. Somewhere one of the air conditioning units turned on, and under the hum of the generator he could feel something, tiny tendrils of sound, like whispers.

Distracting himself, he said finally, "Is the tea alright?"

"Very good," Shikamaru replied shortly, stirring it and then bringing the cup to his lips.

The whispering continued, and Sasuke, put off by the sudden sound, looked around the room for the source, hoping he hadn't left the audio rod running on the table.

Gaara, from the other side of the small coffee table, raised his chin slightly. "Something wrong?"

The boy, nervous and slightly overwhelmed, swallowed and shook his head. "I thought I heard something…"

"Something?"

"Sorry—" _Don't let them think you're insane, you buffoon! _"It's really nothing. I think I might have left something on, though…" As he stood, walking to the adjacent hallway where a humble room lay with a few more audio rods perched innocently on the bed; he listened intently and heard it again. "Do you hear that?"

He spun and caught both Shikamaru and Gaara sending hard glances toward each other and then turning toward him, simultaneously standing.

"Sasuke, you're bored here, aren't you?" Shikamaru asked kindly. "Would it be agreeable to you to send you some material to… challenge you while you're here?"

"Challenge?" Sasuke asked, his interest piquing.

"Something like a game. But it's educational: reads your reflex levels, response times, keeps your head fresh."

Enthusiastic about anything that would make him feel productive again, Sasuke tried to keep as calm as possible when he nodded. "I would like something to do, yes, if possible. Hinata has taken pains to teach me about the whorl while I'm here, but she is often engaged elsewhere."

"Then I'll have what I'm thinking of delivered to you in the next few days." Shikamaru clapped him good-naturedly on the back. "You're not bad, kid. I was worried there for a minute."

Sasuke blinked, stunned. "Worried?"

Gaara stepped forward. "Naruto is a close friend of ours, as much a brother to us as we are to him. He respects you and sees you as a good man and a friend. However, as friends, we cannot ignore your people and your background."

Sasuke's heart sank in his stomach. "You're talking about…" He nearly choked. "The invasion?"

Gaara nodded sagely. "More specifically your family. But we're learning slowly that you, Sasuke, are not your family. We hope to have your help in the future."

The burning in Sasuke's chest intensified. "I love my homeland," he said automatically. "and my family. There are good people there, who want nothing better than to see our home peaceful, but—" He met Gaara's eyes and found he couldn't look into the green orbs for more than a moment. His words died in his mouth and fell useless from his lips. "I won't betray them anymore than I already have." He whispered finally. "I can't."

The air in the room could have split for all Sasuke knew; the tension was so high. He felt like paper: weak and brittle, compared to the two men who towered over him in both rank and experience. Their mental presence, almost as poignant as Naruto's, nearly overwhelmed him, but Sasuke was not royalty for nothing. Though he had asked for Sanctuary from these people, he couldn't simply betray everything he had been. As he'd been living amongst them, he was slowly realizing that yes, his home was flawed, but as Itachi had begged of him the night before he'd died, Sasuke would love it and not abandon it.

Gaara, as if sensing his emotional battle and sudden understanding, smiled. "Very good, Captain. I'm sure Shikamaru will arrange a little more freedom for you while you stay among us."

The two men, just as suddenly as they arrived, left Sasuke in his chambers.

Naruto's attack on the city was fierce, though, he thought to himself inside his fighter as he skimmed down the horizon of the Otogakure capital, the Federates were more merciful than Otogakure had been to Ame.

Within an hour, Otogakure's seven major spaceports were gone, and the auxiliary military bases were following. Naruto was regrouping the squadron after a missile run on a rocket-fuel refinery when his helmet interlink came to life. "Delta Leader?"

"Hold," he answered. On his screen the third pair of his men swung into formation behind him, and he took the squad out of the fire zone before speaking again. "Delta Leader."

"Ebisu here. General cease-fire, effective immediately. The enemy wants a conference. I'd like you along."

"Yes, sir." He switched back to inter-squad frequency. "Delta Two, cease-fire has been called. Take lead and maintain high patrol." He vectored his fighter upward and accelerated back to full thrust.

Ebisu and Naruto's friend, Corporal Konohamaru Sarutobi, waited in an auxiliary landing bay on _Hidden Leaf_. A five-man shuttle stood ready near the edge of the platform.

"They specified three negotiators," Konohamaru told Naruto as he slipped into the pilot's seat. "Unarmed."

Naruto returned Konohamaru's second, silent greeting. "Heading?" he asked as they glided away from the cruiser.

"True north. They're sending a small frigate into polar orbit. Also, they claim, manned by three unarmed negotiators."

The shuttle soared toward the polar cap of the blue-green world. Naruto's left forearm rested on the edge of its control board, pressing upon a hard, slim shape in its yeast-skin sheath. When he gave up his blaster, he would not be disarmed, nor would Konohamaru.

He had no qualms about concealing the Bunshin. It hardly qualified as an offensive weapon. But he had discovered two laws of wartime negotiations: if a man shows up helpless, half the time he gets shot at. On the other hand, if he's belligerent, half the time he still gets shot at. He had long ago decided that he preferred to be able to defend himself.

Shortly, they docked. "That should be it." Konohamaru slid off the pilot's seat.

Naruto reached for the latch. It yielded. The hatch swung open and he stepped through onto the Otogakure ship. On a platform to his right he laid his hand-blaster, then followed General Ebisu toward a table that had been brought into the frigate's main cabin.

He stared in momentary surprise as the leader of the Otogakure contingent stood to greet them. He nearly stopped in astonishment as Sasuke's visage melted into the light from the shadowy far end of the room. No, he realized an instant later, the man was not Sasuke, but surely he was Orochimaru, the older cousin. But in the next moment Naruto felt a his stomach churn that he ever could have mistaken Sasuke for this rattlesnake of a man, who oozed (in every sense of the word) wickedness and oppression. Taller, fuller of figure, Orochimaru wore his long hair down, flowing past his shoulders and accentuating high cheek bones and pale skin that had triggered Naruto's case of mistaken identity.

Konohamaru presented his officers; then the man introduced the Otogakure force. "First Marshal Haruto and General Nimura. I am Lord Hakusho." He pronounced _Colonial _with a slippery tongue that held an accent slightly stronger than Sasuke's.

_Uchihas and aliases! _Naruto thought._ Why is Orochimaru hiding_? He and his companions took three chairs across from their counterparts as Haruto poured a steaming brown liquid that scented the air spicy-sweet into six bell-shaped cups.

From his end position, Naruto lowered chakra shields and examined all he could see.

Deception hung in the cabin's atmosphere, tantalizing the edge of his perception.

The Prince—he had no doubt it was Orochimaru, whom he had seen through Sasuke's memory—was very fidgety. He had hungry eyes and an angry, possessive spirit. Now that he sat close enough to read him with a delicate, surface emotional probe, he understood why he and Sasuke had had so much trouble. Two such strong-minded men, in a family with room for only one, would not have lived in peace or harmony.

Orochimaru intended falsehood, he was certain, and meant him harm. But unless the Otogakure generals either surrendered or consented to access, he could not confirm their veracity: Section 136, Privacy and Priority Code.

_Watch him_, he subvocalized to Konohamaru.

The young man's smile lines darkened minutely. _Gladly_.

He read the other men next—calm and steady. Military men of long experience. They hadn't stood when they were introduced. Were they armed, after all? No: nervous, but straightforward. Each had the half-dressed feeling of a disarmed soldier. Furthermore, each was ostentatiously keeping his hands above the table.

And the crew, three of them, out of sight, although he felt their waiting presences clearly.

_Trap_! he warned Konohamaru, with a glance at Ebisu. The boy did not respond.

Marshal Haruto rose, tall behind the table, and bowed slightly. _No_, observed Naruto, _he's unarmed—Good_. "General Ebisu, General Uzumaki, Corporal, let me be entirely blunt with you, and apologize. The Otogakure Electorate has decided to take drastic measures."

Naruto started. Something rustled behind him. From a cargo door that had hung open a crack, the three crewmen sprang into the cabin. Each brandished a blaster-rifle.

He leaped from his chair. Before he had taken three quick steps away from the table, his Bunshin shimmered at the ready. With less than a second to catch one adversary in Jounin voice-command, he flung his chakra through the focusing point of his hand and took Orochimaru, who controlled the armed ones.

"_Stop_!" Energy jumped the gap. Orochimaru froze, standing behind the table.

But the Otogakure men opened fire before Ebisu or Konohamaru could react. The boy died with his eyes on Orochimaru's pale complexion, and Ebisu fell to the deck, one hand on his empty holster.

Naruto attacked. All three crewmen brought their rifles to bear on him, but his Bunshin caught and parried the killer energy beams, shimmering almost invisibly in the bright cabin lights. He had to watch every opponent at once to be on position to meet the fire-bolts, which arrived at the very moment they could be seen.

One guard was hit and knocked to the floor by a beam refracting off a shiny metal panel. Naruto jumped between the other two and swung the singing Bunshin in a wide arc, slicing one rifle cleanly in half. Then he leaped away as the other fired. The guard's shot killed his disarmed fellow.

That left only one, but Naruto sensed danger behind him. As he closed toward the still armed guard, he saw it: the Otogakure officers were going for the Federates' blasters back in the airlock.

Naruto breathed deeply, easing a portion of his mind away from Command and Bunshin work. Distant control of energy currents was simple enough for a Jounin when undistracted, but he had little attention to spare, and he was tiring. Balancing the skills carefully, he feinted quickly at his opponent and then gave a nudge of chakra energy to the airlock's circuitry.

The inner door slid shut in the men's faces, and they stared disbelieving at the steel arch. Naruto sprang out of the remaining guard's line of fire and swung backhanded.

The force of his blow dislodged the guard's sidearm. It slid spinning across the deck. Haruto, Nimura, and Naruto dove for it. The Marshal was closest, but Naruto's reach far exceeded the length of his arm. With a final burst of energy he called, and the blaster flew to him.

He covered the two officers, who were battle-wise enough to freeze immediately, and took a deep, cleansing breath to quiet his fighting fury. He used an old calming technique that consumed no epsilon effort, speculating on his opponents' parents, their friends, their children. His anger began to melt away as they faced him warily. "Lord Hakusho" still stood aghast at the table, behind six untouched cups. When Naruto released the man from voice-command, he sat down with a thump.

"Over there, with him," he directed the other two men. They returned to their places. "Now sit down." Naruto sheathed his Bunshin. "I want your hands on the table."

He took a moment to examine Ebisu and Konohamaru where they had fallen. Dead instantly, both of them, he judged. His dear friend and his commanding officer... Once again he clamped down on his emotional control. He slipped Konohamaru's Bunshin from his arm, wishing he could leave it with him, but claiming the irreplaceable relic nevertheless for another Jounin.

He slid it under his wide belt, still holding the Otogakure blaster ready at his side. "Your Highness." He fixed Orochimaru's eye. He startled visibly but did not deny the title. "This will cost Otogakure dearly. If we cannot trust you to honor diplomatic immunity, we cannot trust you at all. You force us to disable your world entirely."

"You won't get away with it, General." His eyes steamed hatred. "You'll pay if you try, your whole Federacy. I promise. And if you think you can paralyze _me _and—"

"This ship," Naruto continued smoothly, "is returning to planet only because of your presence, and because I choose to show respect for your family. Tell His Majesty that for me, gentlemen. First Prince, were you anyone else I would imprison all three of you." He took a step toward the airlock. "Marshal Hakuto, I assume you are in command of your planet's defenses?"

The Marshal nodded his gray-fringed head slightly.

"If you value the lives of your people, you will evacuate every facility on your planet that could possibly be construed as strategic. Quickly. I will warn you that we captured Otogakure military personnel at Ame who possessed highly classified data." He fingered the lock's touch-panel. "I assume at least one of you can pilot this frigate?"

"I can," answered the other General.

"Then, take the Prince home to his father. He needs a spanking." He plunged through the air-filled lock, rapidly securing the hatches.

As the landing seal disengaged, he accelerated to the shuttle's top speed with all shields activated. He took the moment to grieve for Konohamaru, and for Ebisu, but then immediately called up the shuttle's computer display. Ebisu's murder left his second, Naruto, in the first position of planetary invasion command he had ever held—or was ever likely to hold.

**Goodness, Orochimaru… When will the lies end! When!**

**Maybe in the next chapter! **

**But I'm greedy and require reviews as currency for safe passage to the next chapter. **

**Give me currency! (please)**


	12. Chapter 11

**Profuse apologies for the late, late, late delay in publishing. I've been near drowned in work and finally now have some time. Updates will resume regularly. **

**And even faster if you review ;)**

**Chapter 11. **

With the toneless indifference with which he did everything, Second Crown Prince Kabuto Uchiha watched two holographic displays, built into a cat-footed marble table in his cream-and-gold parlor. On the night-side of the world, lightning storms swept the skies; here on the daylight side, tall buildings stood empty, whole industrial areas evacuated to an unnatural weekend stillness—except for the alien attack ships that dropped in tight squadrons, destroyed their targets, and sped off-screen.

He watched alone; somewhere in the capital, his second, General Iruto, supervised a communications network. Along the marble wall that separated his suite from the palace, several receiving units had been set on a credenza to listen in on his movements—but one by one their voices had gone silent.

_This, _he thought in calm disbelief, _cannot be. We have the strongest military in the system, and yet we are beaten already._

The hall door opened without warning, startling Kabuto badly. A page in Uchiha scarlet slipped in and shut the massive wooden panel behind him. Hastily Kabuto wiped his face dry of sweat with a silken hand-cloth from his trouser pocket. "Don't you still knock?" he asked wearily. "We are at war, but the world still turns, and manners help it to do so."

The boy was trying valiantly to hide his tears. "Pardon, Highness. Please, Highness. His Majesty is dead."

"Dead?" The glow of his spectacles, reflecting the holographic images of the tag-board, made him appear ethereal.

"He— My Lord, in his chambers, Highness. Please hurry!"

Kabuto, however, did not move a muscle. "The High King is…"

"Dead, Highness!" the boy repeated. "In his room— there's blood everywhere… Highness, please!"

Kabuto smoothed a wrinkle on his cream-colored jacket and walked without haste out of the room.

Naruto left the bridge of the _Hidden Leaf _only when Otogakure's only remaining defenses were wheel-borne, after ordering downside silence to give the Otogakure government thinking time. He had stood at the position as leader of the strike force at the helm of the attack for the entire five-day assault, thanking his chakra reserves for giving him the energy needed to get the job done. The Federacy's deep-space forces had arrived to reinforce his battle group just that morning. He had sent reports to Gaara, Iruka at Amegakure, and Regional Command. Only one duty remained, and then he would be able to sleep.

The sentry at the vault sprang to attention as Naruto stopped before his desk. "It's all over but the talk," he said, "we hope. I need item twenty-six seventy-six, please."

Three minutes later he sat on his own cot, examining the parcel. Through its wrap, rough fabric showed a rocky black and two ruby stars glittered. Sasuke, wearing this uniform at their parting, had bitten back a desperate plea for his people—Naruto had read it in the cry of his emotions. He knew Sasuke would give almost anything to buy peace for Otogakure, and revealing his survival to Otogakure had already been named between them as part of the price.

He pulled open the seal. From the uniform's collar he undipped the ruby stars, then pressed them, unscrupulously in his mind, to his lips.

He allowed himself— in the first reprieve he could remember since the strike— a pleasant thought about the boy, who had once worn this uniform with such pride and presence. Having first seen him weakened and broken under mind access, Naruto had almost forgotten that Sasuke was a proud soldier, strong and independent. The uniform, pressed and cleaned to fastidious perfection, fit Sasuke's abled arms and legs like a glove, and the Jounin, upon seeing the young man regally clothed in midnight black, had felt the spark of attraction seize him the moment he'd seen Sasuke.

_He's a kid_, Naruto reprimanded himself even now.

Though the hot rush of blood charging from his eyes down to other, less attended parts of his anatomy did not let up for an instant and intensified as Sasuke's irregular scent, dusted with gasoline and a peculiar fragrance Naruto could not identify, wafted from the uniform up to his unsuspecting nostrils. Naruto, driven perhaps away from true sanity by the overwhelming ocean of warfare, gave himself a moment, a fraction of a moment, to enjoy the sensation of his body gaining the upper hand over his mind, and he pulled the uniform closer to his heaving chest. Guilty pleasure surged up his chest as he inhaled the fabric deeply.

The moment, enjoyed to its fullest and preserved away in the corner of the Jounin's mind, slipped away, and he settled back down into his own normalcy with a gentle press to the side of the fabric. Placing it back into the parcel for safe-keeping, the Jounin gratefully began to undress, pulling apart buttons and fabric, slipping off boots and socks until he was scantily clad in nothing but his Federate-issued smalls. At which time, he silently and appreciatively fell into bed.

A very light sound of a bugle rang in Naruto's ears, and the Jounin groaned as if he'd been thrown from a crashed fighter. He reached for the tab. "Uzumaki."

"DeepScan transmission for you, sir. Switching on." For a moment the link crackled. "Naruto?" came the voice of Admiral Mifune. "We've been discussing staff for occupation forces on Otogakure, and since you're rather an expert on these people, we were wondering: Could you see yourself as Lieutenant Governor? I need a strong second, someone to do my tough jobs while I work diplomacy. It's bound to be a temporary position. After you clean house, they can move in someone from the diplomatic corps. Regional told me to push you, and suggested a step up from Delta Squadron. Want the job?"

It was a startling honor, for himself and for Konoha— and an invitation to be hated. Yet "housecleaning" could be done fairly, and he could do it well. Being resented came with the promotion.

To "push" him, though? He'd half expected to be forced up and out of the Delta group for some time, but did Regional intend to boost his career or to catch him in incompetence? _Jounins unnerve them all_.

He spoke to the pickup. "Sir, I accept. I am slated already to answer any official transmission of surrender. How would you like that handled?"

Several seconds later, the interlink crackled again. "Excellent, Uzumaki, excellent. Speak 'for the acting commander,' and when papers are signed planet-side have the Lieutenant General announce both our names. I'll make an official landing soon afterward. But if they refuse to surrender, it will be your job to convince them they should give up rather than suffer further losses."

Two days later, at the ceremonies for the peace treaty signing between Otogakure and the Federacy, Naruto sat amongst his peers and betters, while several of the enemy generals, all of the sullen and pale-faced in the face of unconditional surrender before "alien" intruders, stood and signed the treaty in an orderly line. From Sasuke's crystal clear memories, Naruto could identify every Otogakure face in the room, from the military specialists to their wives who stood haggardly in the background, holding black kerchiefs over their faces. With a start, Naruto recognized the Missling class, a pitiful band of youths. They stood like dogs on leashes in the corner, guarded.

The General and acting Governor of Otogakure's transition period to Naruto's right, Mifune, a man in his late fifties with a hanging jaw and a pallid yet wise facial structure, whispered to him, "You'd think that they'd have a little more decorum at a peace treaty signing."

The Jounin turned and regarded the several crying females, most of them wealthy wives of the generals signing the treaty. All were robed in solemn black, dark lace over their faces, and their sniffles and whimpers echoed throughout the great hall. Naruto was about to answer that perhaps it was the shame of such sudden and utter defeat that inspired the tears, when Naruto suddenly recognized Sasuke's eldest cousin, once again, the tall, thirtyish dark-haired man who regally carried himself, waiting behind the other Otogakure officials. As he passed the stylus to him, he asked quietly so only Orochimaru could hear, "Was the King unable to come as we directed, Highness?"

"I am now the King, Excellency. Orochimaru First."

Startled, Naruto eyed the man. His pale, snake-like yellow eyes certainly possessed a twinge of sadness but not enough to hide from Naruto's keen sensibilities followed by an imperceptible mental probe. Under the façade of a grieving son lay a vicious predator, fattened from enjoying the conquest of the dead. Naruto could feel deceit and foul play like a broken bone under swelled skin.

"My father, His Majesty King Madara, left Otogakure in my hands two nights ago in his palace chambers. They say he took his own life."

Naruto did not miss the hidden connotation of a perfect alibi. Orochimaru had more than likely had proof of being nowhere near the palace upon Madara's death, but the Jounin could feel treachery in Orochimaru's essence. From Sasuke's memories, he knew that the man loved nothing more than himself and his ambitions, even his own father. Behind him, Naruto saw the younger brother, Kabuto, as indifferent and calm as every memory Sasuke possessed of the docile man. He looked like a shadow, perfectly still with a small, polite smile on his face.

"I am sorry for your loss," Naruto said to Orochimaru as Mifune stood to give his final speech before the press of the Federacy and the Otogakure people, "Your Excellency," he added sardonically.

In the undercurrent of the oily man's feelings, Naruto detected a shot of fear slip through the High King at his tone, which had been anything but sympathetic. Though Orochimaru was as controlled as he was clever and appeared to be weary and crestfallen before him. With a small, sad smile that Naruto would have easily believed if he didn't feel the deceptive mind behind it, Orochimaru nodded and whispered a word of thanks.

Mifune's speech drawled, echoing over the outdoor meeting area just in front of the Electorate council chambers and the hundreds of Otogakure citizens who had gathered for the assembly. Seated beside the Electorate and Royal family as a show of peace, Naruto had to maintain a tight control over his emotions as the new High King breathed loudly next to him, mouthfuls of air scraping in and out of the pale mouth like gasps. Naruto had to remind himself that to keep his control was to ensure peace for an entire system, and forced himself to forget that the man beside him was directly responsible for the untimely deaths of his young cousin and his superior office. Useless, heartbreaking deaths.

As if on some sort of cue, Orochimaru leaned closer to Naruto.

"You are well, I see, since our last _meeting._"

Naruto nearly stiffened, pushing down the memory of Konohamaru and Ebisu's lifeless faces. He could show he was capable of restraint just as well as Orochimaru was. He did not, in turn, respond to the sudden remark, which he reflected with a hint of triumph, did get a rise out of the newly crowned king.

Orochimaru bristled slightly at being ignored. "I hear news of my little cousin," he said finally, and mentally Naruto gave a start.

How did Orochimaru already know about Sasuke?

"He's… _alive_ then?"

The Jounin didn't miss the uncontrolled hint of pure malice pass over Orochimaru's teeth like a lisp. Naruto again did not move. Mifune's final departing words were rolling over his aged tongue a little slower than Naruto liked, yet surely he was drawing to a close. Orochimaru, as Naruto stood to escort the acting Governor away from the podium, grabbed his arm by the sleeve and slid a creamy white card into his hand. The chill pulsing down his spine from mere contact with the High King would have made any other man shudder in revulsion, but Naruto kept his peace.

"You'll give this to my sweet cousin, won't you?" the man whispered into his ear. The hairs on the back of Naruto's neck stood on end. The dark-haired King didn't wait for a reply as he slithered away, joined presently by three powerful-looking men, clothed in black capes that swirled almost of their own accord behind them.

Naruto broadened his chakra range to gingerly test the emotions of the three guards and mentally shuddered as he registered absolutely nothing seeping out of them. This unnerved Naruto entirely. Emotions in a human body were similar to sound in any space: filled, even when very still, with a slight room-tone, an emotional ambience that gives hint to a person's personality and emotional traits that a Jounin of Naruto's caliber could sense. However, the three men, members of the feared Akatsuki as Sasuke's memory reminded, were devoid of any such room-tone: they were hollow.

What sort of strange methods did Otogakure use to produce such men?

With Naruto's chakra spectrum widened to search for the Akatsuki's emotional pull, he felt the stab of agony jut from another source as surely as he felt pain himself. Moving slowly so as not to draw attention to himself (for by now both he and Mifune were surrounded on all sides by both questioning members of the press as well as the elite of Otogakure) he turned to regard three young adults he recognized as Misslings, off to the side, speaking in hushed tones toward each other. One of them, a petite female with pale red hair and the source of the crushed feelings, buried her face in her hands while another Missling, this one massive by any standards, wrapped two large hands around her shoulders, encompassing her entirely. The third Missling, a blonde-haired young man who stood shorter though a little more controlled than the others, acted as a slight barrier between the girl and the rest of the crowd. Naruto had remembered the feelings of acute Missling camaraderie that Sasuke had experienced as one of the doomed class, but seeing it first-hand and in such a public display put him off his guard.

The trio, he realized suddenly, were all members of Sasuke's previous flight team too. No, not all the members, he counted. One was missing.

Though before him he was certain he saw Karin Kagura, Jugo Samadhi, and Suigetsu Hozuki, each of them members of Sasuke's Missling class as well as the boy's squadron. Naruto, plagued by such fond memories of each of them, could not resist the urge to approach.

As he neared, though, he heard the girl, sobbing into her fingers. "Alive!" she breathed, leaning against Jugo entirely. "Sasuke's alive! Oh, God, I thought he'd died on Ame. I was sure I saw his fighter explode! I thought he was gone with Sakura!"

Naruto's jaw set grimly into a line. So Sasuke's survival was somehow common knowledge now.

Karin shook, her shoulders quaking beneath unsteady legs, and another party of nobles passed them, turning their aristocratic noses up from the Misslings. Naruto couldn't understand their lack of compassion for a crying woman.

When he finally was within speaking distance of all them, they noticed his presence. Suigetsu saw first, his large, dark eyes widening in fear and then in abrupt suspicion; Jugo, who could do nothing but try to calm Karin's emotional outcry, eyed him warily but with less coldness than his companion. The girl perked her head up, tear-stained cheeks partially covered by black-rimmed spectacles. Abruptly she stood to attention, flushed and embarrassed, though dutifully attempting to regain her composure in an attempt to save face. "Lieutenant Governor."

Another group of nobles passed, brushing past the Misslings with hardly a second glance. Jugo glanced around them self-consciously. He grabbed the girl by the elbow, leading her gently away while Suigetsu followed behind, but Naruto, grasping the girl by the opposite arm, and whispered into her ear, "I know who you are, and I have information about your friend. Can I speak to you alone?"

Karin started abruptly at his words, searching upward into his face with her blood-shot orbs that perhaps would have been a warm shade of hazel brown under normal circumstances. The men at her side eyed Naruto warily, but she pushed them off almost as quickly as she'd latched on and took Naruto by the arm, dragging him away.

"What information?" she hissed.

Sweating from the rush of frenzied packing, Roushi Younbi stowed his last load of essentials into a ground car the Electorate had given him for his services. "Cheap _slugs_," he muttered as he buried a roll of Federate currency in the toe of one shoe. "You could've afforded an air transport, but, ah, no, save a little credit for more important concerns!"

Exhaust from the traffic below his apartment block congealed in the chill air around him. Roushi slammed the side trunk shut and ran back up the steps to his studio for a last plunge into cabinets. Breathing hard, he paused in the doorway to look around. Angularly elegant rented furniture lay buried under a jumble of his less vital belongings, and all the lamps burned.

"Uzumaki," he spat. At least Orochimaru had come to warn him! "Why did it have to be _that _eight-pointed goody-boots?"

"Not a friend of yours?" the newest High King observed from a chair in one corner of the studio.

"Not exactly." He reached for a package of jelly wafers, and it slipped out of his hand onto the yellow tile floor. One end burst, splotching his discarded possessions with purple confection.

From all others at Sentinel College Roushi had hidden his fantasies of power, biding his time, watching and learning. When Uzumaki arrived, taking annual paid leave at an age when Roushi had only begun basic chakra training, they had met by chance over lunch.

The following day Roushi had received a summons for reevaluation.

"Question of integrity," had been the Masters' verdict —and Roushi had been suspended—sentenced to report every ten days to be treated with chakra-blocking drugs, lest he misuse what skills he had learned in his two years at the Academy.

_Burn Uzumaki and his blasted ninety-nine chakra harmonics!_

**Temporary** blocking drugs, fortunately. Only radical cerebral surgery could strip a Jounin of power for all time. After five years of that intolerable treatment he had fled. They would cut him—or kill him—if they caught him now, but his abilities had returned. Roushi found that living without chakra shields kept him attuned to all that transpired around him and saved his energy for occasional bursts of access and Command—without distracting his spirit from the destiny he pursued.

Indolently Orochimaru peeled a pale green fruit. "It rather sounds as though you _love_ him the way I _respect_ my Missling cousin. I do wish there were a way to get to Suna. I would love to show him he cannot escape the Otogakure Electorate."

"Do you mean that?" Roushi stopped mid-floor and stared into Orochimaru's eyes as deeply as he could. Yes, he pulsed with hatred, and yes, he would pay any price to see his treacherous cousin dead. And how delicious it might be if he, a mere trainee, were able to best whatever Jounin they had protecting Sasuke! Surely, they would use a Jounin guard.

"Highness, I could get off-planet easily, if you have a suggestible acquaintance on the Interplanetary Travel Committee."

"My man is in place." He straightened his shoulders and gave him a decidedly calm smile that Roushi read as very false. "You'd do it for me, Roushi?"

"What about you, Your Highness? Don't you want to see it done, and done correctly—on the other end?" With a high-ranking escort, he reasoned, it _would _be easier to get to the Missling. Without one, more difficult—particularly on Suna, assuming MaxSec, which he had seen once during his training. Orochimaru buffed his nails on one sleeve. "I would indeed, but I cannot afford to leave my research. I'll find another to keep an eye on you, someone to help, someone with a particular..."

He stopped speaking, and Roushi dropped impatiently onto a hassock. The man was always doing that, trailing off before he could catch the focus of his thought. "Grudge?" he prompted. "Against Sasuke?"

"Actually, no." His eyes narrowed, and he smiled with one side of his mouth. "I was thinking. Perhaps it would shake your 'friend' in the Lieutenant Governor's office if we sent someone whom Uzumaki thinks he's beaten. That would win us quite a psychological victory, _and _rid Otogakure of that cunning threat to the succession."

Roushi began to puff up in agreement, but immediately he slouched again. "Uzumaki has been careful so far. He hasn't 'beaten' anyone yet, that I've heard of."

"He'll have to, fairly soon," Orochimaru said placidly. "I have several men working quietly to get rid of that occupation base. The first time one of my men is caught, we free him and move quickly. I have enough influence to release any ranking prisoner on his own recognizance. But could you hold up your own end? How could you get off-planet?" he asked suspiciously.

He took it as an invitation to demonstrate. Leering, he turned inward for his chakra. _"How did your father die?"_ he asked quickly, mocking Orochimaru's tone of voice.

_... Through a haze of incompletely focused energy he/Orochimaru saw a slight opening in the curtains to his father's bedchamber, where the High King lay in restless slumber. Kabuto's steady stream of drugs, which he had been carefully slipping into their father's meals and drinks at Orochimaru's instruction, were having a drowsing affect on the powerful king. However, the once-feared monarch's eyes fought to remain open despite the lulling dosage. Just as well. He/Orochimaru, stepped from behind his covering, crossing to his father's side with an unabashed smile on his face. The king, knowing what was transpiring yet unable to get to his feet or even shout to stop it, jerked in pure rage. Drawing a silver, ceremonial blade from his ceremonial robes, he/Orochimaru approached his own father, lying in the bed, and thrust the dagger into the man's chest. Madara gasped, choked in rage, and flung sluggish hands over his son's face in an attempt to stop him. He/Orochimaru held his father's hands down with one gesture and then continued with the knife, slicing downward, then across, then up again in a jagged triangle characteristic of a Seppuku suicide. Madara coughed and hacked, blood spouting from his mouth onto Orochimaru's sanguine face. Now openly bleeding with his organs spilling from his body onto his lap, the monarch's body began to convulse in shock and then finally stilled…_

Orochimaru flung a hand to his forehead. "He couldn't stomach the shame of a defeat. Seppuku is the natural order for a king to dispose himself. What has _that _to do with—_damn_, I have a headache. What's in your medicine cabinet?"

As Orochimaru plunged into the bathing room, Roushi rose off the hassock. He laughed silently. Now he had something to hold against the new High King should he need it.

And to catch that obnoxious brat from his class, Sasuke—to strip him of his Suna memories, see the inner workings of the Federacy through his eyes, experience a Sentinel interrogation firsthand for his own purposes— what a rush that would be! Roushi paused, listening as Orochimaru scattered medicine vials across the marble counter. To punish Sasuke, crush his spirit and mind as the Masters had punished him— that would be sweet. Yes.

Orochimaru emerged, wiping his hands on a cloth, which he then dropped amid the general chaos.

"Highness," Roushi said with a deferential nod. "When the time comes, give me the name of your contact on the I.S.T. Committee. He will see a face other than mine, no matter whom he expects. You'll arrange my groundwork?"

"You wish a false ID? Use any name you want, and I shall supply programming. But first we must get you out of Otogakure. Leave the mess—perhaps His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor will be looking for you."

Roushi swept out an arm and motioned him to precede him out the door.

Orochimaru strolled toward his servo instead. "No, I want to make some calls without using a palace line. This will suit me perfectly. Good-bye, Roushi. We understand each other, and this city is overrun with alien _filth_. I make for the Naka Shrine tonight. I will contact you from there, when the time is right."

Roushi Younbi dashed back out the stairs and plunged the car down the ramp into traffic.

Karin's legs were steady, her grip firm on Naruto's arm— as if finally procuring the means to answers about her captain had suddenly given her strength. Though under the current of her quickened actions, Naruto could sense her heated emotions flying from rage to joy to curiosity to fear and then a washing of all of them put together. An intense sense of ambition and (dare he think it) fierce rebellion also raged behind her determined exterior and gave a lift to her feet to where her male companions had to jog to catch up with her.

Finally, under the alcove of a decaying (nearly decimated in the recent attacks) bridge, Karin stopped her relentless strides and spun about to face the Jounin, taking a few wary steps from him but staring him evenly in the eye nonetheless. Her curiosity and concern over Sasuke, Naruto gauged, outweighed her fear of the 'alien' chakra-wielding man they had been taught to shoot on sight.

Karin asked her first question now. "What do you know about Sasuke?"

"If you wouldn't mind, tell me what you know of him first. How did you discover he was alive?"

"There are whispers," Karin said in just as hushed a tone. "A frequency came through this morning, a termination request that had been looked over weeks ago suddenly resurfaced. It had the Crown Prince's signature on it, but most assumed it was a forgery. Sasuke's fighter had been accounted for on the Amegakure surface, with his flight helmet charred and ruined inside; on this planet, that's more than enough to assume someone's death. But if he's alive, now, then that termination request means he's still trying to carry out his Seppuku orders. But I thought if… if Sasuke were somehow alive and he… was trying to die—" Her nerve, the very feelings that had kept her strong and steadfast in her pursuit to question Naruto about Sasuke's whereabouts, now failed her, and her lip trembled dangerously. "If he could somehow live free, if I could somehow tell him to _live_… dammit!" A rushed tear fell from her eye, and she quickly dashed the thing away like a foreign invader. Beside her, the humongous Jugo took a step forward to comfort her, but she held a hand out quickly to stop him. Eyes reddened once more, she leveled Naruto with a hard gaze. "Your turn. What news of Sasuke? Is he alive, truly?"

Naruto slowly drew the tiny box from a pocket of his belt and handed it to Karin. She held it suspiciously at an arm's length. "Nothing deadly, Karin." He took it back, opened the lid, and returned it into her hand. The rubies flashed in the morning light.

As Karin examined them closely, her eyes widened. "These are Sasuke's captain's rubies." She lifted her head to her two companions. "Alive!"

The younger boy, Suigetsu, threw hands into the air as if the gods were raining blessings down upon them and suddenly bellowed out exclamations and oaths of gratitude to the sky. Jugo closed his eyes as the information washed over him and nodded his head slowly, as if he'd believed it all along.

_Sasuke…_ Naruto thought with a heavy heart, _what friends you have here, who care for you._

"Please!" Karin said at once, hurriedly digging into the pocket of her black dress uniform and retracting a small hand-held scribe-book. "Let me give him something. You can transmit messages to him, can't you? I'll write fast, I promise!" Retracting a stylus before Naruto could protest, she scribbled at lighting speeds what must have been quite a message before handing the entire book over to him with quivering fingers. "Please, just give this to him. You can read it if you want, but I just…" She held her hands out helplessly, unable to explain in words, but Naruto knew well enough.

"Where is he, General?" Jugo asked from behind the girl. "How is he being treated?"

Naruto glanced back toward the adjacent streets, where the crowd still milled about near the Electorate chambers. They passed them without a second glance. Snow began to fall from the gray sky. "He is under protective custody, at Regional Command on Suna." A single intercept fighter sweeping low over the skyline caught his glance as he spoke. "He has been held as a political prisoner, but was interviewed as military."

Karin grew paler. He felt her panic rise.

"Yes," he continued steadily. "Yes, that is one reason why we were able to take Otogakure without prolonged warfare. But many of your lives were saved by his capture."

"He was taken instead of killed at Ame, then?" Suigetsu asked in disbelief.

"It was very close." He related Sasuke's several suicide attempts, then his capture and questioning, without mentioning his own role.

"And he still wants to die? Even now?" Karin twisted her uniform in shaking fingers.

Naruto shook his head. "I can't be certain. He's finding his way, but there is… I think there might be someone here who can help him." The Jounin thought back to the images of the girl, the dear friend, with the strawberry-blonde hair and constant smile. She was a light for Sasuke, encased and treasured not only because of her endearing love for him but because she had encouraged him, always, to live. Naruto thought that if somehow he could find the girl, she might be able to say something to convince Sasuke of his place with the Federacy. From what he had gathered when perusing Sasuke's memories of the light-hearted Missling, she had always been prodding him to escape with her, to live a normal life. If he could tap into the otherwise unused source of assurance for Sasuke, he might be able to save him yet.

"I'm looking for a girl named Sakura."

Karin's face fell, her eyes screwed shut. "Sorry, General. Sakura's dead, atomized on the planes of Ame maybe minutes before Sasuke's ship went down— _got captured_, excuse me. You can thank your Federate fighters for that."

Horrified, Naruto thought back to the first time he had felt Sasuke, that initial cry of pain so loud and heart-wrenching that it had thrown Naruto's consciousness through the first initial loop of connaturality that would introduce him to the proud Third Prince. Now Naruto berated himself for not extending his mind-access further— up to the very minute of Sasuke's capture. He'd stopped just before the invasion, having gotten all the tactical information he'd required from the memories of Sasuke's time aboard the command ship. That cry had been a reaction to the sudden demise of his closest friend. Naruto's own Delta Squad had brought about that shock of agony.

_So all of this_, Naruto thought in disbelief, _was because of that girl._

"If Sasuke is alive," Jugo said softly into the wind, "he is probably in pain. We grieved for Sakura when we arrived back home, but we could not for long. We were lucky to be apart of the Ame task force because when we arrived after the retreat, Otogakure had already been taken. You won't find many other Misslings alive anymore, General. They were expended quickly in the first defensive forces of your strike days ago. Though Sakura's loss we feel acutely."

Suigetsu nodded sagely. "Little girl was a pain in the ass, but a good girl nonetheless."

"Sasuke was such a loner when he first was declared Missling, after that horrible incident at the palace," Karin said in a whisper.

_His brother's suicide, _Naruto thought. _First that and then slated for death…_

Jugo said thoughtfully, "Sakura, I think, liked him immediately."

"Liked? Loved! _Adored_ is more like it! But you remember how one day, he yelled at her?" Suigetsu laughed like a child. "Actually _yelled_ at poor Pinkie in the classroom, called her a nuisance and told her to stop following him. Baby girl bursts into tears and ran like all hell out of there."

"Though wasn't it the next month, and they were inseparable?" Jugo asked quietly.

Karin nodded then raised her eyes to look at Naruto. "This might be odd to you, General, that we're telling you all this, and maybe you don't even care, but you're the one with access to Sasuke now, not us. You should know. The night after Sasuke yelled at Sakura, there was an Academy-wide bugle sounded. I remember because my room was right next to the training field: I saw the whole thing. Sasuke stole a Sharingan 11-90, one of our best fighters. No one really knows why he did it, but the Akatsuki thought he might be trying to escape. They shot him down immediately. Normally when an 11-90 is under fire, the option to jettison in an escape pod happens automatically, but something went wrong. When they blasted him, the screen on his cockpit blew off, and he fell— actually _fell_— fifty meters down. Snapped his back on the stone gate between the training field and the Academy. It was like he was cut into two clean pieces with only his skin holding him together. I had nightmares for weeks. Now normally, the back is something we've learned how to repair, but at a heavy price: not the price of a Missling. They were going to kill him, kill Crown Prince Sasuke, when Sakura intervened. She single-handedly saved him, and they stuck to each other like glue ever since." She inhaled deeply, and Naruto felt the twinge of jealousy wash over her as clearly as he felt himself standing in the morning sun. "She kept him alive in more than one way, General, and now that she's gone, he has to find something else to live for. I'm only telling you this because I think that you care, in some way, about him. Please, if you can, keep him there."

She folded her hands together, pursed her lips and sighed. "Let him be the one out of all of us who makes it. Help him."

"_Save him."_

**So yeah, took forever to get that one out, but what if I told you I already had the next chapter written? Would that make you review? I think that if I get a lot of reviews, I'd know that everyone who's reading this normally has read it. Then there'd be no reason for me to put off the next chapter, which— by the way— features someone we love… dead?**

**Who knows? Treachery is a nasty thing, and Roushi has it in for Sasuke after all. I'm sure you'll find out… if you review ;)**

**I'm shameless, haha. **


	13. Chapter 12

**So my bribe worked! Though not as much as I'd hoped, for I am gluttonous for your opinions, my loves. **

**Do enjoy though. **

**Chapter 12. **

Alone on his green lounger, Sasuke pored over a Suna news-scan and silently grieved for his homeland. His memory, his knowledge, had helped engineer this disaster. The account on the inner section of Hinata's paper (several days old—what did the Jounin fear he would do with current news?) hit him like blaster fire. He gritted near-shattering teeth with an aching jaw as he read the grim roster of destroyed Otogakure facilities on the flimsy page. He had trained at this one, based at that one, refueled at others, and his very memories had given Naruto's forces their targets. The capital, the bases... He stopped and read the list again, frowning at the tiny print. He must have missed it.

No, it was simply not on the list: Naka Shrine, two long days' ground-car drive north of the capital in the Northern Mountains. His family's "vacation home"—actually a fortress-like last-effort retreat. The ancient stone hideaway sat atop a huge complex of tunnels on a granite mountain overlooking its own airstrip, and it was not listed here.

He sat bolt upright; the lounger creaked. So his efforts of resistance had not been in vain. He _had _concealed one of Otogakure's minor airbases from Naruto.

Much good it had done.

Centered atop the page was a row of 2-D photographs: Naruto, General Mifune, Orochimaru, Kabuto. No Madara. That unnerved him slightly. What sort of trickery was the High King involved in, if he couldn't arrive at a treaty negotiation?

Sasuke grimaced and rerolled the news-scan. Orochimaru, co-instigator of the invasion, was featured in the photo in startlingly regal clothes, more than likely attempting to replace his father in stateliness if in nothing else. Though the fact that Madara was not present at all was shameful and worried Sasuke greatly.

Though in his current predicament, worrying over it would do nothing but cause himself more suffering.

With a sigh, he found he could dwell on it no longer and, stretching as he rose, he paced from the lounger to the nearby chair and desk he'd abandoned hours before and set himself to the "game" Shikamaru's assistant had dropped off days before, only hours after the two strange men had already left. The device was peculiar, in similar proportion and size to a scan-disk but rather than holding mere text and photographs, it presented itself similar to a game. Inside the small, circular tabled lay an assortment of digital "tests" Sasuke could play for hours on end, finding that each built reflexes, knowledge of the whorl, and quick-thinking skills. In between bouts on the small console, Sasuke stayed physically fit as well. He'd recently re-taken up his workout regime that he had practiced religiously at home and could feel the appreciative burn in his arms as he lazily stretched before turning the game on once more.

He'd hardly gotten into the first stages of the level before the slight hiss of the sliding door alerted him to Hinata's presence. Like a child, he refused to raise his head in greeting. She'd ignored him of late, almost refusing to come to his chambers, and after the third day of complete solitude he'd resolved to care for her company no longer. She seemed to dislike him as much as he disliked his confinement, despite her supposed superior Jounin emotional control.

She must have sensed his emotional disquiet, for she said nothing for a few moments. The silence grew thick, the small tapping of Sasuke's fingers against the glass console the only sound in the vicinity.

"Regional council wishes to convene with you."

Sasuke gave a start, shutting the game off instantly. "With me?"

"You have something more suitable to wear, don't you?"

He glanced down to his attire: disheveled gray pants and a loose-fitting white shirt, casual and comfortable, though a little similar in color palate to the coverall he'd worn in prison aboard _Hidden Leaf_. "They've confiscated my uniform," he said honestly.

"Very well." She left without another word and continued some minutes later, a smartly-fitting uniform in her hands. Sasuke noted with a wry look how it seemed to be a uniform of no relation to any sort of army, as far as he knew. Just how many interplanetary prisoners were there, if the Federation kept neutral uniforms on standby?

He decided not to think of it as he dawned the black clothes. A quick glance in the looking glass revealed his chin stubble far too overgrown for military personnel and his hair a disrespectful length, though Hinata didn't seem to care either way. More than a little self-conscious, Sasuke stepped from the room, Hinata beside him and guiding his way.

Why the Council, today? News from the war, he guessed. _It's over. What's left of my homeland_?

Shortly thereafter, he preceded Hinata from the security lift into a chamber designed in majestic proportion to the responsibility carried by the members of the Federacy's Regional Council. The pale gray ceiling rose high above him, vaulted by pure white stone arches designed with an eye to mathematical beauty. There were no windows, but air moved freely. It somehow felt both ancient and modern, and as they passed across an expanse of silver-flecked stone below empty spectator galleries, Sasuke felt awed in spite of himself. They ascended three wide stairs onto a platform half circled by the Council table, and halted at the center of its arc.

Behind the table sat the ruling septumvirate of this quarter of the Federate Whorl, three of them nonhuman. Sasuke kept walking stiffly to mask his curiosity and distaste. One was an Kirigakure alien, reminiscent of a native Otogakure fish, with slightly humped back, squat limbs, and dark, rough-textured blue skin. Beside him sat two other aliens who Sasuke could not identify at all, whether male or female, young or old. The white-robed human man at the center looked youngest, and Sasuke realized all at once that it was Gaara Sabaku, whom he'd met not days before in his own quarters. Indeed he did mention he was Regional General of Suna, but from his position at the center of the room Sasuke had to guess he was the leader of this council chamber as well. Ethereal in the strange light and elevated above Sasuke, the man looked strong and imposing— a far cry from the nearly silent individual who'd come to visit him. To his left sat three more male humans in military uniforms. A large blank visual screen hung overhead, and each Councilor sat before a small touch-board and monitor.

Hinata stepped forward. "Members of the Council, I present to you Lord Sasuke Uchiha of the Otogakure system." Sasuke, unsure of the appropriate protocol for these unfamiliar circumstances, made a formal half-bow, feeling awkward in the standard-issue black attire and wishing for a dress uniform.

The robed Gaara stood. "Good afternoon, Captain Hyuga. You are welcome on Suna, Lord Sasuke. I trust you have been treated well?"

"Very well, Your Honor."

"I am Gaara Subaki, formerly of the Konoha System. May I introduce Admiral Kishie of Tanokuni, Admiral Mira of Kaminari, General Takeda of Tetusnokuni." As he continued, he turned and indicated the Councilors on the other side. "Admiral Yagura of Kirigakure, Doctor Juribo of Naminokuni, and Lady Faa of Tsuchinokuni."

Sasuke repeated his bow, less perfectly than usual. He felt very much out of his element among aliens, even ones such as Lady Faa, who might have passed for human in dim light but for her backsloping, hairless cranium. Doctor Juribo, a scarcely visible shimmer, unnerved him entirely.

"Our news must be conveyed with our sympathies," said Gaara formally. "First, Oto has surrendered." Sasuke pressed his fingertips into his palms and said nothing. "We received that word late yesterday." Gaara's voice rang like that of a well-trained alto; Sasuke found it both pleasant and commanding. "The second news came only an hour ago. Your uncle has committed suicide, Lord Sasuke. We are sorry."

Sasuke felt that he should respond, but his emotions seemed dead. Given the surrender and Oto's traditions, this did not really surprise him.

Admiral Kishie, second from the left, seemed to see his awkwardness. Quickly he stopped stroking his blond beard and leaned forward, spreading his elbows on the table. "We have been advised that the survival of the patrol fleet at Ame resulted in part from a warning you gave. I am certain that you have been thanked already, but we wish to add our gratitude to that already given."

Sasuke made a small, polite bow to the kind-faced Tanokuni Admiral.

At Gaara's side, General Mira stood. A row of golden stars sparkled on the breast of his coal-black uniform. "We have before us a report submitted by Lieutenant General Uzumaki, now on Otogakure, concerning your government's secret research. The, ah, 'Yakushi Project,'" he read. "Is this a special concern of your family, Your Highness?"

Naruto was safe, then. Sasuke restrained his urge to correct Mira's unknowing aggrandizement and answered his question. "Of my cousin, Orochimaru, Your Honor, and the late King's Electoral Council."

"You were, I understand, a member of that body?"

"Yes, General Mira."

"This report claims that you did not support the research. Why not?"

It was difficult to answer without denigrating his family. "Members of the Council, I have little official authority on Oto, and I am not authorized to speak-for the Uchiha rule. But, for myself, I would like to express my regret for this unfortunate situation. I would like you to know that I am a career military officer of my own volition, but that I have grave reservations about some decisions of the Electorate." In this bright alien environment, the words sounded like treason. He glanced Hinata's way for support, but her eyes, forward on the Council, did not shift.

"My lord." The Kirigakure lord's low, gasping voice confirmed that he was not at home in the Suna atmosphere. "This report indicates that you may be willing to consider —consider, I say—personally joining the Federate peoples. I would find that most heartening. Would you confirm that for me?"

Distracted by his appearance, Sasuke found it difficult to order a proper sentence. Yagura's huge, sad eyes lay far to the sides of his high dorsal crest, and his eight digits were long and nimble-looking. _At least _, Sasuke reminded himself, _he's bilaterally symmetrical _. He envied Hinata her poise among all these varieties of sentients. "The standard by which I have been taught to judge matters of policy has been, 'Is it good for the Electorate?' This broader notion— this standard, 'Is it _good_?' and no more—is very new to me. I do not understand how so many systems can peacefully share a government based on a concept like that. But it is something in which I would like to believe."

Inexplicably, the alien seemed more sympathetic than General Mira, who appeared quite normally human. "My difficulty is the matter of forsaking Oto, my home and the land of my people."

Mira leaned back and said nothing.

Gaara spoke again. "That is a decision you need not face for some weeks yet. The public portions of the MaxSec library will remain at your disposal, as will new-scans given Captain Hinata, when she has finished with them. We hope eventually to be able to accord you more freedom of movement without jeopardizing your safety, but please bear with our protective custody for a time."

Some inflection in Gaara's voice, perhaps his use of the royal "we," reminded Sauske suddenly of Madara. Apprehensively he waited for grief to rise.

It did not: only relief tinged with regret, and incredulity at having survived his uncle after all. "Lord Sasuke, we thank you." Gaara inclined his head. Sasuke did the same. Hinata touched his arm and led him away.

Very little changed for Sasuke after the meeting with the council, save for Hinata arrived most regularly, new scan-disks in hand. All of them possessed some form of knowledge of the Federacy, and Sasuke devoured the scripts like a well-balanced meal. The politics of the conglomerate of systems was fascinating. Apparently there was no fixed monarch, no overall ruling system. Representatives, generals, and speakers were elected by the peoples of each system to speak at Federate council meetings, which were held almost monthly on neutral planets in a single system and then bi-annually throughout the entire Whorl. Planets too far away for any reasonable travel were represented via hologram, and each system— each planet of each system in fact— was provided with a vote that correlated directly with that planet's population level, economy, militarization, etc.

Confusing it seemed, though frailly effective thus far. Sasuke had read of several occasions where planets inside Federacy rule had declared open war upon each other, nearly shattering the tender alliances the systems had inside the Federacy, though somehow each conflict had resolved itself one way or the other. Despite his long hours of reading, there was so much of the universe Sasuke had yet to know. At times he couldn't help but sigh and marvel at Otogakure's ignorance of the universe around it. How could an entire system fail to teach their children of a force as powerful and encompassing as the Federation? Sure, Sasuke had always known of its existence, but it had always sounded small, unimportant and easily dwarfed by Otogakure's magnificence.

Now Sasuke shuddered to think how the complete opposite was true.

A week later, a packet return-marked **Otogakure** arrived. It had passed the censors unopened: an ID tape in one corner gleamed shiny brown, and below the tape had been lettered: _Personal. Security I._

Sasuke took it to the inner room and sat on the edge of his narrow slide-away bed. Carefully he slit the seal and pulled out four sheets of scribe-paper. One was tightly folded and heat-sealed, addressed in Orochimaru's flowery script. Another, unsealed, he recognized as Karin's writing and nearly dropped the paper.

Fingers suddenly shaking, he flipped the packet open and devoured every line.

_My dear Sasuke,_

_I have hardly any time to write. The Jounin is in front of me, the strong one from Roushi's class, you remember? He told us you were safe, with the Federates. I'm so happy, Sasuke! Jugo, Suigetsu, and I— we're all safe. Jugo kept us alive at Ame and took his time rejoining the fleet on the way home. We practically missed the invasion. You don't need to worry about us, Captain. _

_Please, Sasuke, please, think about yourself. The man in front of me, horribly powerful—he scares me— but I think he could help you. He's asked about Sakura, and I know that her death might be hurting you. But she would want you to live; I know it! She always said that she wanted you to live!_

_I have no more time for now. I've arranged to set up a parcel service to you. I know you'd be happier in clothes that smell like home, so wait for the packages. _

_With our love,_

_Karin, Suigetsu, Jugo._

Sasuke, after reading and then re-reading the hand-written message until he could recite every word and hurried punctuation, pressed the copied paper into his chest. They had survived it. For everything that had happened to him thus far, Sasuke could count that tiny piece of news as the greatest gift he could ever hope for.

When his emotions had calmed somewhat, he moved on to the next series of notes. The other three sheets were covered with an unfamiliar masculine hand. He laughed when he saw the formal letterhead atop each page. Naruto had learned very quickly how to impress Otogakure Elite. It read:

_Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Otogakure _

_Protectorate Systems Interstellar Federacy_

_Sasuke—_

_There is a lull in affairs today; please believe that I have written at the first available moment. My title is "Lieutenant to Governor Mifune"; actually, I am his bodyguard, chief of enforcement, and mentor. We are thus far impressing people with our knowledge, although the attitude prevails that Otogakure is the center of the known universe, and that everyone in the galaxy must be well informed about their affairs._

_We've met with hostility, but attitudes do seem to be softening as the elections approach (I've applied for my dismissal immediately afterward)._

_I had words yesterday with both your cousins at the palace. The grounds are heavy with your presence. I spoke briefly with one man on the palace staff—an elderly butler or some such servant—who spoke of you as I was looking through the portrait gallery. He gave me the impression that you were very highly thought of on Otogakure. I thought as much from before, but the entire staff was overjoyed at your survival, though they couldn't directly tell me of course. Is that part of your problem with Orochimaru?_

Sasuke paused and stared up at the gray inner wall. It was indeed, particularly after the late Baron Honshu had commented within hearing of both of them that "it was a shame about the order of succession." Orochimaru had had scarcely a civil word for him since that day, more than four years ago now.

_I may not be able to write again. Don't answer this letter. Expense aside, I don't entirely trust the courier service, even with an ID tape for clearance._

_Yours, N._

Kabuto's message was bland, officious, asking after his treatment as if it were a thing assimilated with the weather, and finally warning him to maintain his dignity as a member of the Royal Family.

Orochimaru came directly to the point:

_Sasuke:_

_So you have betrayed us all. If I ever see you again, I shall personally remove you from the succession._

_Orochimaru _

_High King Royale_

A postscript had been added in Naruto's hand, despite the heat seal on Orochimaru's paper. It read:

_Not if I have anything to say about it. I apologize for even including this, but it is important for you to know exactly how you stand with him. If it's any comfort, he would do the same to me._

_N._

Karin's promised parcel arrived two days later, filled to the brim with suitable clothing that did indeed smell like home. Sasuke was sure to bury his nose into the soft, dark-blue fabrics, recognizing them as simple civilian clothes. He was extremely grateful, however, that she had inconspicuously included tiny tags of the Uchiha crest on the inner seams of the sleeves and collars to the shirts, an homage to his family without being abrasive to his current residence. The trousers were dark, tailored, and exquisite, coupled with a heavy and light pair of boots. He removed his worn coverall almost immediately and settled down into the rich fabrics of his home world.

When he was fully dressed and settled back down into his chair, Sasuke re-read Karin's letter one more time, finding himself able to smile at her candid words at last. Her plea for him to begin living was easier to bear now that his heart, though on the mend from experiencing the loss of everything he'd previously known, wasn't so torn to pieces. The mention of Sakura, while welcome for he wanted others to remember her as well, was met still with strained, tear-empty eyes and angry, fidgeting fingers, but Karin's assertion that Sakura would want him to survive was a conclusion he had already drawn. If he ever saw the red-haired girl, he would have to thank her personally for such a warm-hearted letter.

Just as he removed the page from immediate view, storing it carefully inside one of the cupboards in his desk, the lock-panel to his front door hissed and gave way to Hinata's crisp footsteps. She eyed him as he placed idle fingers over the game Shikamaru had given him.

"What is that?" she asked abruptly.

Sasuke felt no guilt, though he was a little surprised that Shikamaru had given him the game without consulting Hinata, his guard, first. She hadn't seen him play the thing since she'd arrived on the day of the council meeting, as he'd been attentive to the scan-disks since then. Now he handed the device over to her without retort and watched her expression change ever so slightly as she observed it. Flipping through a few of the onscreen menus, Sasuke could only assume that she was reviewing the game for some kind of foul play, when she proved him wrong by asking,

"What score have you gotten?"

"Score?"

She pulled herself to the side, ignoring his questioning gaze as she rifled through the game quickly. Her face shifted again, and she almost (Sasuke couldn't quite identify it on a face normally so devoid of emotion) sneered. However, in the next moment, she seemed to collect herself and handed the game calmly back to him.

"Is everything alright?" he asked slowly.

She sat beside him, placing smooth pale hands on his desk table. "I assume that Shikamaru gave you that game? Are you having fun with it?"

Sasuke shrugged noncommittally. "It's something to do, I suppose."

For once, she offered him a small smile. "You've been very patient. I understand a boy of your age might get restless stuck in these tiny walls. But I have something for you that you might enjoy. I was told you like flying."

Sasuke's eyebrows rose.

Hinata reached silently inside her uniform trouser pocket and retracted a small cartridge disk that she placed inside a nearby scan-disk. Flicking on the program, a series of unfamiliar ship bodies flew across the screen, dazzling Sasuke with their different makes and schematics.

"This is a very primitive flight simulator," she said in that tiny voice of hers. "I had one ordered here for you, along with a few more historical documents so you can continue to familiarize yourself with Federation past and present. The disk mostly has our history in conjunction with different speeder and fighter models; I thought that might interest you."

Sasuke took the scan-disk into his pale hands and nodded at the young woman. Truly, he thought, she was for today trying to make him feel wanted here.

"Thank you, Hinata."

She offered a small smirk and at once straightened. "Good."

Over the next three weeks, Hinata Hyuga had rarely let another smile wrinkle her clear oval face, and only gradually had she let their conversations (obviously manipulated to educate Sasuke) touch on her own people. _But she's companionship_, Sasuke reminded himself, which he had never thought to be essential until he became a prisoner on this foreign world. He leaned against the wall nearest the window, careful to avoid the security grid, watching both Hinata on the lounger and the free, outside world. A high layer of tiny clouds mottled the Suna afternoon sky.

"What's the major difference between a Jounin and a Hokage, then?" he asked. "Is it a matter of degree, or a different set of skills?"

"Both, at times." Hinata touched her four-rayed star, never relaxing her tutor's pose. "The line of eligibility is not drawn at any arbitrary point on the Scale, though generally those whose chakra and potential evaluations fall below ninety-three are not considered for Hokage's training. Some potentials shown also by outsiders influence train-ability. Focus, for example, is a function of the mind's power of concentration. I could levitate a fairly massive object if need arose and I were able to rest afterward. General Uzumaki could control the rate of fall of his own body, a far more subtle and difficult skill."

"Is it—a physical center in the brain, then? A—Hinata, this is an awkward question. Do you feel the Jinchuriki were genetically human? How did the chakra abilities arise? A mutation?—from the Six-Alpha Catastrophe, perhaps?"

"There is a physical center, yes, low between the hemispheres. And you have studied the sciences, Sasuke." Hinata's brows came together over her shapely but prominent nose. "Different species cannot interbreed: the Jinchuriki were quite human."

Somehow that comforted Sasuke more than he could justify. It made sense, although he had been told for years that the Jounin were half-alien. But where had they come from? Hinata had not answered his other question. "The origin of the chakra's center, then? Did they practice genetic engineering?"

"That," said Hinata stiffly, "is a subject I do not discuss with outsiders, even Konoha peoples outside our families. We feel it unwise to encourage half the galaxy to try to duplicate what is given only to a few." Her brows lowered, and her eyes half closed.

Sasuke folded both arms across his chest. "I was only curious."

"A trait you must learn to control. Every people has its racial secrets. You must respect them."

"But if people have nothing to hide, they can afford to be open." Hinata's absolute emotional control had begun to irritate Sasuke. It made Hinata aloof, untouchable— whereas Naruto's gave him a comfortable steadiness.

"You speak out of ignorance," Hinata said. "Ask another question, so you can learn."

Very well—She had invited this. "How is it that you show so little feeling?"

Hinata laughed, a puff of breath and no more. "Consider the question yourself. Among telepaths, broadcasting emotion is boorish—performing private functions in public. Decorum involves personal restraint, for some of the Jounin can send well, but shield themselves poorly."

"Why?"

"Talents vary."

Sasuke sighed. "Range, then. How far away can you sense a person's emotion, or send the chakra wave?"

"That too varies with Scale."

"And with the strength of the one being sensed?"

"What do you mean by strength?"

"Well..." Sasuke extended one hand, palm up. "Some people seem to overpower you when they walk into a room, and others can be invisible standing next to you. That, and—will power, intelligence—do they make any difference?"

"A little. Back to your question. Generally the width of a room is the range of a solid chakra perusal."

"Generally that's far enough for you to do quite a bit."

"Correct."

Recalling how Naruto had probed him from across the war room, Sasuke paused. Although the experience had been an infuriating public humiliation, the sensation itself had not been all that unpleasant—nor, truly, had the other sessions.

He let his gaze wander across the anteroom as he thought aloud. "Between Jounin lovers, there must be dimensions of relationship beyond anything others experience. The potential—"

"Yes." Hinata delivered the word like a slap.

"Have you—"

"The subject is of no concern to you," she said, suddenly and obviously angry. "I must go."

"Come soon," Sasuke said absently as he watched her. Hinata locked the sliding door behind her. The boy raised an eyebrow. So he had struck a chord. But with what question?

Several days later, Hinata brought unsettling news: preparatory to the elections, conquered Otogakure had sent an embassy with a firmly worded message to the Regional Council. Otogakure's Electorate, the missive directed, would consider a _particular_ gesture of cooperation to be an extremely positive sign that the Federacy was ruled by reasonable men of honor and esteem.

"But the Electorate was supposedly dissolved. What are they asking for?" Sasuke asked uneasily. He and Hinata sat on opposite ends of the green lounger.

"You tell me."

"They intend to take me back with them."

"Correct. Specifically, 'The surrender of First Captain Sasuke Uchiha, reportedly captured at the battle of Amegakure.'"

Sasuke considered. "I suppose they're still waiting for news of my suicide. They'll never forgive me for surviving to be interrogated—and it wasn't my fault." Hinata gave him a sharp glance, as intent as any of Naruto's.

"Not my fault," Sasuke repeated quietly, though he didn't care if she believed it or not. He knew it. He stared through the wall across time and space, seeing Momo Hakuto just before she was killed in her ground car by falling debris. It had been not a few days before the invasion. Momo had refused to pilot a Sharingan, noisily protesting that she be moved back to the hospital._ Accidental death_—_maybe_. "I think I'd rather stay here, Hinata. It's amazing how easily one gets used to the hope of living."

The female Jounin rose. "All right. I'll convey your wishes to the Council, and they'll be considered along with the Otogakure petition."

Late that evening, Hinata returned with a startling escort: one of the Dukes of the Main house at the Capital: Hukushi Shimoto, and— incredibly—his former instructor, Roushi Younbi, looking more pasty-faced than ever in tight black shipboards. As the men preceded Hinata into the brown-walled anteroom, Sasuke rose from the lounger, where he had been comfortably curled around the simulator Hinata had given him. He came to attention, suddenly self-conscious in nothing but his loose-fitting trousers, his bare chest suddenly frigid in the normally pleasant air of the room. In his mind, he berated Hinata for not giving him fair warning.

For long moments, Sasuke said nothing, waiting expectantly until finally Hinata said for him, "Come in, sit down." She motioned them toward the lounger. There Hukushi settled his bulk, hands on the knees of black sateen breeches, and Roushi joined him. Hinata walked around behind them to lean on the window-bar.

Hukushi's soft green eyes absorbed every detail of the bare little anteroom and rested finally on Sasuke, who stood near the door, feet apart and hands clenched at his sides.

"Well, Sasuke, this is certainly no place for a Lord of the House of Uchiha. Aren't you ready to go back to the palace?"

Hukushi had left the honorific off his name; he was in disgrace, then. He sent a questioning glance to Hinata. "The Council," she informed him, "has asked the Otogakure embassy to honor your period of temporary asylum, and to renew the request at its close, in six weeks."

Sasuke nodded. "But they did say," insisted Hukushi, "that if you chose to return with us, they would guarantee you safe passage home."

"I see." Sasuke envisioned a return to Otogakure on their terms: stepping off a Federate ship, leaving behind a Federate guard who had seen him safely home, while the Akatsuki waited below, beside the terminal, devilish smiles and Manda in hand.

He refocused his eyes on the window. Beyond the gridded glasteel panel, the lights of Suna's captial city sparkled all colors of the spectrum. Streams of cars flowed along wide avenues to an arc of low hills, then climbed to the hilltops and vanished. A little higher, he could see the wing lights of atmospheric craft; higher yet, constellations glimmered, similar to those of home, but with the brightest stars brighter and noticeably colored, and shifted to new positions.

"No, Hukushi," he said. "I've chosen to stay."

Roushi leaned forward. In the presence of Hinata, who had completed training Roushi had only begun, he doubted the man would try any subvocal tricks, but he watched him closely.

"I bring a message from your cousin, Lord Sasuke." Roushi's high, strident voice became singsong: "Your people are shamed by you. The treachery you have dealt us will not be undone in many lifetimes. You would be wise to return to Otogakure and undo the bitterness with which people speak your name."

He did not say which cousin had sent the message, but the words, obviously calculated to sting the proud soul of any Missling, struck home, and he wavered. _Could _he go back?

All three watched him. He cleared his throat. "I will return," he said firmly. "But I don't feel that this is the time."

"I think you're mistaken." Roushi bent down toward his boot buckles, keeping his eyes on his feet, and Sasuke tensed. That was not a natural gesture.

He shook his head and stepped backward. "It's not the time," he repeated.

"I'm not talking about timing." He shifted his hand rapidly. "You _won't_ go back."

The slight motion of Roushi's fingers probing inside his boot top put him on full alert. It was "the old game"—only now it was no game.

Roushi drew a tiny weapon and Sasuke feinted left to draw his fire, then threw himself hard to the right. The shot missed. As Sasuke prepared to dodge again, he recognized the weapon: a stinger, no longer than a stylus but as deadly as a blaster if one of its energy bolts struck a vital area. Its little power cell could yet deliver four more shots.

But Roushi had trained the stinger instead on Hinata, who stood just behind the lounger with one hand stalled in midair, halfway to her blaster. "Don't even open your mouth, Hyuga," he said. "Try to voice-command me; I dare you."

"Kill her!" Hukushi's voice pulsed with hatred for the Jounin.

"Maybe," said Roushi. "Drop your hand, Hyuga."

Hinata obeyed, scarcely breathing. Sasuke shifted one foot forward.

"Forget it, Missling," Roushi sneered. "We haven't forgotten you." The barrel of the stinger never wavered from Hinata's forehead, a scant arm's length away.

Hukushi shifted ponderously, pulled his feet under as much of his weight as he could, and reached for his wide blue sash.

Sasuke met Hinata's stare. What had the Jounin been thinking, to let those two in?

"He's all yours, Hukushi." Roushi waved his free hand expansively.

"Lord Uchiha, perhaps you retain enough of a sense of honor..." Hukushi tried to thrust his hand under the sash, but misjudged in his eagerness.

In his moment of awkwardness, Sasuke leaped for Roushi. The stinger swept around, but he ignored it, holding course for Roushi's shoulders and missing the moment the small blaster roared to life. But his action freed Hinata to speak. With one word the Jounin had Roushi motionless.

Unfortunately, it came a moment too late. Even as Sasuke's momentum carried him onto his old teacher, he realized he'd been hit, although as yet he felt nothing.

He fell off Roushi and glanced down. The energy bolt had struck just below his left collarbone, missing the kill zone by centimeters. The smell of scorched skin revolted him, tiny wisps of smoke rising from the wound, and he could see the bright red of his own blood through the singed edges of the hole. For the second time that evening he wished he had been wearing a shirt when guests arrived. His flesh began to scream protest. _So __**that's**__ why it's called a stinger_, he thought shakily. He staggered to his feet.

Hinata was easing around the lounger with her blaster leveled left-handed on Hukushi, even as her right hand reached toward the left sleeve where her Bunshin lay hid. "Your immunity is gone, Roushi. Now you face Konoha law." Suddenly seeing Sasuke rise, she went stiff. "Sasuke. You're all right."

"I'll make it. Hahh…" Already he was beginning to feel dizzy.

The Jounin's cheek twitched. "I thought he'd killed you." She twisted the stinger from the motionless Roushi's grip, then grasped the Duke's hand as he pulled it from beneath his sash. It did not come out empty.

"I think this is for you." Hinata passed Sasuke a mirror-bladed dagger, whose pommel was fashioned like a warrior's body, the man's eyes dotted with red rubies. Tiny kanji letters were written underneath his feet.

Sasuke took it carefully with his good arm; hunching forward eased the pain a little. It was a ritual suicide knife, the traditional last gift of the Electorate to Misslings who had ignored their Seppuku Orders. "How appropriate. It has my name on it." He caught Hukushi's glance.

"Why were you so careful about drawing it? Poison?"

"A quick one," rumbled the Duke. "Do you remember what it is to be an Uchiha, Sasuke? Take the blade on your palm."

"Pretty, isn't it?" Hinata whispered. "It almost seems a pity to waste it."

Sasuke wheeled, alarmed by the encouragement in his guardian's voice. Still holding the haft in a loose grip, he glanced from Hinata's eyes to the stinger in her hand and back again. Hinata's subtle, Jounin prodding shook him more deeply than either the Electorate's gift or the burning pain in his shoulder. She was internally suggesting he kill himself! For a terrifying moment, he felt his arms move of their own accord, positioning the blade over his open, sweaty palm. One quick slit, and it was all over, whether he liked it or not. Confused, he bit back his protests and appealed silently to Hinata's Jounin empathy with all the feeling he could focus.

Hinata shrugged, and the tableau broke. She lowered her hand. "All right, Roushi Younbi," she warned, her voice so full of hatred that it could have frightened Sasuke. "Any quick move and you _will _lose your diplomatic immunity."

Roushi buried his hands in his pockets.

Hinata extended her palm to Sasuke in an unmistakable "give-the-knife-back," and as she took the grip with delicate care, Hinata seemed to soften as quickly and inexplicably as she had turned menacing. She touched Sasuke's charred flesh, and the boy winced. "You lie down. I'll send a medic."

Hukushi turned just short of the door. "_Your _immunity is just as temporary, Sasuke Uchiha. Otogakure will have you back, if the Federacy wishes peace with us!"

As Hinata followed the men out, Sasuke drooped on the lounger and pulled up his feet. He felt shock setting in, both physical and mental. _Hinata_! his mind cried. She was his friend, his teacher!

But plainly she had hesitated, had let Roushi fire— had nearly let him kill Sasuke— had suggested to him with Jounin abilities that he end his own life. That fact was even more horrifying than the idea of his own people attacking him. Why? What had he done?

The throbbing grew in his chest. Pressing one palm over the wound, he closed his eyes and counted breaths.

A tall young man in a beige coverall arrived within minutes, pushing a repulsor cart laden with medical supplies. "Let's see this," he said quickly. "Just a little nearer midline and the coroner would be checking this, not me. Open your mouth."

Sasuke gave up fighting lethargy and obeyed. The medic dropped a capsule onto the back of his tongue; it slid instantly down his throat. "That's going to make you sleep for about two days, while the tissues knit, because it will itch abominably after I clean and dress it—so get comfortable."

_Was it a crime to be an Otogakure citizen_? his thoughts ran on. _To be captured? Questioned by_—_by—__wait_—

_What?_

The drug took him instantly.

**So, lovelies, what do you think? Several more pages than I'd anticipated, and I'm quite satisfied. Next time… The reunion?**

**Review, and you'll find out faster. I promise ;)**


	14. Chapter 13

**Helloooo there. Another update, because yeah, why on earth not? I'm surprised people have been asking me how far along we are in the story? Want it to be over already? I should update faster if so…**

**Oh, well, do enjoy!**

**Chapter 13.**

When Hinata returned two days later, Sasuke still felt muzzy from his long sleep, but better, and the wound on his shoulder had closed, though if he moved it the wrong way, it hurt something fierce, like fire in his blood. Outside the gridded window the sky loomed dark gray, as bleak as Sasuke's musings.

They pulled up stools to the table with a pot of tea Hinata had brought. Sasuke had no small talk to offer. He drew a deep breath and steeled himself to ask questions that would probably alienate a woman who might have been his friend. Hinata, however, reading his tension with the ease of natural ability and long training, took the initiative.

"Go ahead, Sasuke. You're in no danger from me."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow expressively, bitterly. He wrapped both hands around his cup. "You hesitated to voice-command. You let Roushi fire."

"Yes."

"And I assume you created that situation in the first place—you saw that the interview was allowed."

"Once I learned Roushi had been sent, yes."

"Why?"

Hinata gave him a wry look. "You realize that I acted well within the boundaries of expectation, don't you?"

"Fine," Sasuke bit angrily. "Go on."

"Roushi Younbi is a traitor to my people. Worse: a partially trained traitor. He was granted diplomatic immunity for his assignment to Suna by a committee of Otogakure officials —as was Hukushi, who was evidently under house arrest, as we find out now, and shouldn't have been allowed off-planet at all. But so long as Roushi didn't commit certain crimes, I couldn't touch him. But he is a criminal. He deserves death. We police our own kind, Sasuke, and the Jounin who abuses his chakra skills sheathes a Bunshin in his heart."

"So you wanted to catch him in an offense, but it had to be an extremely serious one. Such as murder." Sasuke, somehow, felt all tension ease off him.

"Yes." Hinata studied her interlaced fingers. "In my mind, the entrapment would have been justified. Your people are neither popular nor respected among the Federates."

Sasuke almost smiled. "Had to be murder though, Hinata?"

As if sensing his relaxed mood, she leaned back. "You were anxious to die not long ago, in a good cause." Hinata sighed. "There are certainly those who would question my judgment. Officially I apologize, but I'd do it again." She looked up, eyes afire. "You have no idea of the magnitude of his crimes against our people. The galaxy trusts and fears us. If we lose that fragile trust, through misuse of our abilities—it turns on us. A war of annihilation." She shook her head. "I can't believe that I had him in my grasp, and he escaped."

"Because I ducked."

Hinata looked uncomfortable. "You'll notice, please, that you are still alive. Once he had fired on you, I had a clear duty to discharge: to stop him and send both of them back. If Roushi had killed you, I'd have had an equally clear duty: to kill him."

Sasuke absently rubbed his shoulder. That side of his upper body remained stiff, and the rapidly healing burn itched as well. For Roushi he could easily forgive. "But it was Hukushi who was going to do the killing, if I wouldn't cooperate."

"I gave you the knife. Apparently, your attitude toward suicide has changed. At any rate, my responsibility now is to protect you, under General Uzumaki's orders, and I intend to do so."

"Until you have another trap to bait."

Hinata's glance darted to Sasuke's eyes and held there. Sasuke intentionally kept his emotions bland, thinking, _Perhaps Jounin aren't worthy of such blind trust as the Federates seem to think_. But a person could certainly try to stay within their good graces.

"I have no intention of complaining—to anyone, Hinata. I just want to hear, from your mouth, what you have against me."

"That's precisely why I came to talk to you, Sasuke." Hinata leaned back. "Someone had better warn you that Naruto Uzumaki is interested in you, and I don't mean politically."

An eerie silence settled over the room as words that Sasuke was by no means ready to hear crossed empty space and made nests in his ears.

"He… what?" Sasuke slid his elbows off the table. "That's ridiculous."

"Is it?" Hinata paused. "Naruto has his eye on the Federate High Command. He'll make it too, one day, if he doesn't get thrown off course by such as you."

_Such as me? How on earth is this even…_

He studied the Jounin hard, scrutinizing every aspect of her features and finding that no, this was not some strange foreign joke. She was being serious. About Naruto. And…

_He's a…_

…Sasuke's mind abruptly thought back to a time in the palace citadel, where two men lay hunched, half naked and held down by cruel Akatsuki hands. From his unseen vantage point in the ventilation shaft above, Sasuke lay with eyes riveted, watching as Madara's heavy judgment rang across the palace floors. They had been Misslings. They had been caught doing— with each other…

Suddenly seeing Naruto in an alarming new light, Sasuke held his peace only outwardly, the fluctuations of emotions he didn't know he had causing him to nearly panic. What Hinata spoke so easily about was heresy! The final perversion brought on by desperate Missling males and females who couldn't risk bringing children into the world, and so, with each other, they would… But as a Missling, Sasuke could all too easily understand the innate, human need for love, for contact. But the severity of the punishment— worse than any other Missling way to die.

The Akatsuki had literally pulled those men to pieces.

"Don't worry," Hinata's small voice broke into his terror-ridden thoughts. "He'd never force himself on you. He's too much of a gentleman." Her disdainful expression made it clear that she thought Sasuke entirely unsuited to such a man.

Still reeling mentally, the boy slowly brought himself to the present.

"But if you let him get close to you, you'll never get away. I'm giving you a chance to prepare yourself."

"What do you mean?" he whispered. "Mind control?"

Hinata pushed her cup aside. "Of course not. If we were allowed to control people's emotions, I'd have altered yours long ago." Nevertheless Sasuke envisioned a line of women eased out of Naruto's life by Hinata Hyuga. "I'm warning you," She went on. "A man with Jounin training will have found ways to please his lover without ever touching them, just as you guessed: ways that will leave them changed, unable to forget or go back."

Sasuke found himself near trembling but for an entirely different reason altogether.

"It's permissible, if they've encouraged him though, and I don't think you'd be capable of resisting. So unless you're interested in being a professional mind-reader's mate, you'd better step carefully. And that leads to the subject of pair bonding."

"Pair bonding?" he echoed weakly.

"When a Jounin marries, he—or she—enters a permanent mental-emotional link. You can't resist it, you can't escape it. It affects the deepest level of existence. Oh, you'd keep your identity, but you'd never be the same. It's tough on outsiders, which is another reason we of the Konoha families have maintained our separation."

Sasuke fought for control, gaining it only with the assuredness of his own present and indifferent sentiments. He spoke evenly. "I assume you have plans for Naruto yourself, then. Don't change them for my sake." She arched one black eyebrow. "I have no designs on your Hokage, Hinata. None."

Snorting softly, Hinata slipped off her stool. "I see." She ambled toward the door. "Don't forget that I can read your emotions, _Lord _Uchiha."

Sasuke knew that his feelings at that moment were less than hospitable.

"That's all I came to say." Hinata paused with one hand over the palm panel and looked back over her shoulder, and her voice became quite polite again. "Since I didn't get Roushi, I'm glad you survived. I am sorry we can't be friends. Perhaps it's better not to even try, until the other matter is settled. After that—I hope so."

Sasuke stood but said nothing.

"Try to be objective—but you'd better think quickly. They've sent out his replacement." She left the room.

Sasuke turned away from the door, feeling completely deflated. So these were the feelings she had been hiding from him, all these weeks! Naruto...

_What in all the universe would possess Naruto to have… interest in him? And how…?_

How was Sasuke supposed to feel about it? Did he— could he possibly—

"No, of course not!" he bit through clenched teeth, suddenly voraciously angry at the idea, but the image of Naruto leaning over him in the interrogation room, as gentle and kind as summer wind, gave him pause. In Naruto's presence, Sasuke had disarmed himself, had (he thought with some mortification) sobbed openly, had shared his feelings. Naruto had been— so kind. But romantic?

_He's a goddamned __**man**__! _Sasuke's Otogakure side hissed in rebellion. Though on the other hand—

Hinata had been… jealous, hadn't she? Murderously so. What sort of inclination had she followed to arrive at that point? Jounin were almost all-seeing. Had she seen something in him to cause her to fear so greatly? If so, what _had_ Hinata seen or felt in him?

Obviously she hoped Sasuke would be so taken aback by her warnings that he would avoid facing Naruto entirely.

_Pair bonding_—deeper than the level of thought. Sasuke shuddered. Yet—the notion of being noticed by Naruto from among all women and men, and the chance for an indissoluble link, where before he had possessed nothing lasting, made him suddenly wistful. For all his self-reliance, he had been denied so many ordinary attachments: the loving nurture of a family, the honorable intentions of women, even the friendship of all but the other Misslings. He had never kept a pet, fearing its torment at Orochimaru's hands after he died. Buried deep beneath his pride, he knew he hid a dark aching loneliness.

A loneliness that Naruto had already filled in the brief time Sasuke had known the man, which was why, he thought in retrospect, he had clung to him so mightily.

But—mental _bonding . _. .

_Well_. He walked to the green lounger. He would have to be careful, and keep his distance from Jounin in general. More than ever he understood why some Federates might distrust these telepaths, even those sworn to Federate service. Entangling himself (though accidentally) in their personal affairs had landed him in a very dangerous situation.

Naruto, the man himself might deceive him, or sacrifice him, "in the best interests of the Federacy"—_in the best interests_, perhaps, of a man marked for the Federate High Command. Sasuke was, after all, a political prisoner and royalty for a rival planetary system. And had not Naruto already used Sasuke in the Amegakure war room, humiliating him by plunging into his memories, and then discarded him until the battle was over?

Overwhelmed suddenly, Sasuke felt as if his aching head might aneurism. He longed to move his body, do pushups as he had before his injury. As is, he could only lay flat on his back and engage in heavy breathing exercises and gentle stretches that did not impact the right side of his body. Then, as if turning to an old, familiar habit would save him, he poured over the challenges in the game Shikamaru had lent him. He would have studied the scan-disk Hinata bestowed upon him those days before had it not been for the particular section of speeder he'd landed on that morning: a small, two-man model that resembled one of the speeders he and Sakura had fixed the first year he had come to know her. That reminded him too sharply of her and tormented him. She alone had given unrestrained support; and despite his resolve, a quick mental jump took him from Otogakure to the battle of Ame and all that had happened after. He stared at the dull sky. If Hinata was correct, at what point had Naruto Uzumaki seen in him the person he wanted?

He clung to the console, letting go of his emotions and allowing them to tumble, out from his mind and into his fingers, which dotted across the screen. Soon he had a new high score.

Stepping off the Base shuttle in the rear main-floor garage of the MaxSec tower, Naruto took a deep breath of warm wind. Home—at least the only home he'd known in years. He had earned the month's leave, this time. He tossed his duffel to a Security I guard, then headed for the lift and his office on the Special Operations floor to check for mail and messages.

Inside the broad, sunlit clearing room, two plump secretaries bent over blue-screened consoles. Between them, reading a paper, stood the very person he wanted to speak with first: Hinata Hyuga. He opened his shields to greet her with a smile.

Without warning, Hinata flung down the paper. The blast of chakra cover he caught brought him up short; it was so thick it must be draining her. Through it, too strong to hide, came a clear picture of Sasuke and an alarming fight-or-flight sensation.

Stricken, Naruto raised his own shields and glanced quickly around the clearing room. The secretaries ignored —or had not seen—the interplay; on their left, the door to his small office lay open in welcome. Fiercely he gestured her inside and followed. Just short of his black desk he turned and leaned on its surface. Automatically the door slid shut, enclosing them both in the half-light of the narrow-windowed cubicle.

_Drop the shield, Hinata._

She sank into the extra chair, black eyes glaring. "Naruto," she said aloud, "there are things you should know about Lord Sasuke Uchiha. He is not the person you seem to think. He is—"

"_Captain _Hyuga," he said tightly.

Hinata shut her mouth. _There was an attempt on his life, four days ago. I_—

He turned raw anger back on her. "Drop the shield, Hinata, or you are insubordinate."

"Very well." She tossed her head and stared up at him. "_General_. I have broken neither law nor custom, and you would do well to follow that example."

Her chakra cloud dissipated, and he swept his own chakra across her outer conscious. Bitter jealousy, frustration, grim satisfaction: tasting her emotional state only whetted his shocked fury. Bluntly he requested memory access; she gave sullen permission. In the space of an instant all her dealings with Sasuke were transferred to his awareness.

... _He saw Roushi arrive, felt Hinata's fury at his coming and its gradual conversion to determination: with one stroke, he/Hinata could rid the Jounin kindred of both Roushi and a rival for Naruto's genes, genes which __**must**__not be wasted. With her thoughts he schemed to trap Roushi in murder and ignored his concealed weapon. He anguished when Hukushi offered Sasuke the jeweled suicide knife. Sasuke leaped for Roushi. Hinata's heart soared as Roushi fired point-blank—the traitor lay in her hands, and the rival lay dead!_

_... But Sasuke got to his feet, wounded and needing aid. Hinata's frustration screamed, grating against her understanding of her duty—and Naruto's own aghast relief._

_... Only yesterday, furthermore, he/Hinata had gone to Sasuke in his bare, cell-like rooms, and deliberately poisoned any casual fondness he may have had for Naruto—for himself—with fear, and entombed it in suspicion._

Naruto stopped the chakra flow roughly enough to shake Hinata, wishing he were free to disrupt her life centers with a burst of his power.

"You had better leave," he whispered. "I will speak with you later, after I see just how much damage you have done."

Absorbed in misery, he did not watch her go. Sasuke, for all intensive purposes, was more than likely terrified of him. He sat hard at his desk and buried his head in his hands, terrified at the possibility of losing, perhaps forever, the only human being he'd ever encountered with such a connatural pull to him.

It was not long before the door to his right slid open once more. Shikamaru's voice startled the Hokage. "Naruto, glad you're back. We've—" He stopped when he sensed the oppressive sadness filling the room like a dark cloud. "What's happened?"

Naruto did not respond vocally but did open his mind to his friend, who apprehensively searched along the mental line Naruto lead him and saw at once Hinata's memories. Immediately vexed, the Nara Colonel paced back and forth in front of Naruto's desk.

"That!" he choked angrily. "That… Hyuga! Selfish woman!" With a growl, he slammed his palms on the dark wood. "I should have watched her! Naruto, I apologize. I—"

The Hokage held a weary hand up and inhaled, silencing Shikamaru's tirade. "You're not to blame, Shikamaru."

"No, but I certainly didn't help. Naruto, I've a confession. A few days after the boy's arrival, Gaara and I visited him. Naturally, though, that tipped Hinata off more than I think was good for you. I'm sorry."

Surprised by the sudden confession, Naruto asked, "Why would you do that?"

He shrugged. "Gaara sort of… well, he was happy for you. Told Temari about the boy, who, of course, couldn't help but show me. I said we should see him for ourselves. But Naruto, if we had any idea that—"

"It wasn't you at all," the Hokage said softly. "Hinata suspected the moment she saw me on the _Leaf_. She didn't need any further prodding to act as she did, and I can't punish her. She acted legally. She wanted to trap Roushi."

"She wanted to _kill_ Sasuke! And then what she did afterward…" He clenched his hands. "The boy has no knowledge of us, and she made us out to be some sort of alien tribesmen, forcing our _mates_ into some sort of mental slavery! If the boy's not terrified, I'll have underestimated him."

Naruto, on leave and among one of his closest friends, allowed himself a show of weakness and buried his head in his hands.

Two hours ago, Sasuke had positioned his body opposite-ways on his low couch, the top of his head touching the floor while his legs and feet hung above him, one over the back of the couch and one on the adjacent wall. Now the blood rushing to his head felt strangely euphoric as he lay there, not doing anything in particular while trying to keep himself from thinking. He tilted his head to stare out his window, when a surge of awareness flowed over him. Sasuke started, losing his balance on the cushion and falling on his face to the floor below with a grunt. He swiftly scrambled to his feet, trying to assess the strange feeling in his chest. Gone as quickly as it had begun, it carried the unmistakable tenor of Naruto's presence.

He must be very near— already.

He stood stock-still for a moment longer, but the sensation was not repeated. Naruto's arrival and the untangling of events and feelings that it would bring could be moments away. He glanced nervously around. Everything in the anteroom was tidily placed, except the answers he had hoped would be tucked neatly into his mind before the Hokage's return.

He'd spent days considering it, pondering his own affection for the older Jounin but trying to think if it was merely friendship, camaraderie, or… something else.

Closing his eyes, he recalled the nuances of that surge, trying to make it flow by again. It bespoke Naruto, but not as he had known him on Ame, controlled and confident. Sasuke had sensed a hesitancy at the heart of that rush of feeling, almost a tremble, as though he were afraid.

Of Sasuke?

The young captain paced back and forth across his rooms as a very long hour passed before the entry bell sounded. The MaxSec staff never rang before opening the lock, and Hinata had not returned, but there was not the keen awareness of Naruto he had felt before.

Slowly he walked to the door. "Yes?" he called.

The door slid open. In civilian clothes, Naruto stood a long pace back.

Impossibly tall, the Jounin man would have to duck if he attempted to get through the door. Sasuke had almost forgotten the clear blue of Naruto's eyes; they reminded him of the oceans farther south of the capital, where he and Itachi had swam in the azure pools just under the Uchiha summer home. His hair, faded slightly from the bright yellow it been when they'd first met, bounced with every stray movement, and a rebellious bang hung past his forehead and onto his strong, blonde brow. Looking lower onto the Jounin's face, Sasuke distinguished tiny, almost indiscernible, marks marring both tanned cheeks. Looking at them in this light, Sasuke wondered why he'd never noticed them before. A slit in Naruto's orange and black (odd color choices he thought for a Jounin) civilian shirt revealed a tanned, defined neckline and collarbone; his trousers clung to his thighs and bunched around casual brown boots.

Naruto met Sasuke's eyes from the distance, undoubtedly reading his feelings but applying no pressure. The boy tried to reign himself in as far as possible, fearing the Jounin could sense the strange, budding excitement settling at the pit of his stomach. He could have been nervous; the feeling was similar to the one he'd experienced just before his descent upon Amegakure many weeks before. Adrenaline, fear, anticipation: they were all feelings he knew well, though the concoction of all three whispered a deeper meaning he didn't want to dwell upon.

"Hello." Naruto gave Sasuke a slight, careful smile. "May I talk with you?"

"Of course." He stepped aside, but Naruto did not move.

"May I come in?" he asked.

"Yes. Welcome back." Sasuke rejoiced that his voice did not tremble.

Naruto walked directly to the corner table and took a stool. Baffled by the change in him, Sasuke shut the door and joined him. He didn't look at Sasuke, but rather his hands, which he had rested on the table. Reminded sharply of the wave he had felt, Sasuke blurted out, "Was that you, Naruto, about an hour ago?"

The Jounin's startled silence gave him a rush of relief. The Hokage was _not_ all-knowing. "Yes," he said when he had composed himself. "I was trying to read your emotional state before I came down. I thought I was being subtle—few people can sense a quest-pulse. But you felt it?"

"Well, yes. I wasn't doing much, just thinking. You..." He groped for words that would not say too much. "You seemed… worried."

Naruto stared, openly amazed. "I certainly was. I... The first person I met when I got back to MaxSec, fortunately, was Hinata. My friend," he said bitterly, and the label became an accusation. "She showed me what happened. All of it. I nearly choked her."

Sasuke could almost feel him seething, and was thankful that the anger was not directed at him. "As to the confrontation with Roushi," he said, "I've almost forgiven her. She... had a lot of temptations."

"Never." Naruto spread his hands on the tabletop. "What she knew about my feelings should have overridden those temptations. Instead, it reinforced them. She'd have been glad to see you killed." His anger quieted somewhat as the hesitancy returned. "Then she tried to frighten you with things entirely foreign to people outside Konoha families. That was brutally unfair. I intended to explain them to you, in the right time. Now I'm forced to begin with the end already known. Maybe it's best that way."

"Wait," said Sasuke. "Stop." A quizzical expression came into Naruto's eyes. "I…" How could he say it? He was terrified of being trapped, of himself, of the Akatsuki, the fate those two men had— no, that wasn't important now. Naruto, with his mere presence, confused Sasuke's once calm demeanor, but there was such a stirring in his heart that he couldn't ignore it— not because he couldn't restrain himself (that he was certain he could do) but because he already _had_ restrained himself. _With Sakura._ She had wanted him, loved him, and now with stunning clarity, he found he had in his own way loved her too. But he had refused her and by doing so doomed her. The only person since Sakura who was capable of shaking up the inner workings of Sasuke's heart so completely was the blonde, huge man before him. "I've missed you, Naruto," he whispered finally. "I want you to know that."

The Jounin set an arm on the table and brushed back hair from his forehead, caught off guard again. "You've been with me," he said softly. "Every memory I own is very, very vivid. If I'd had a clue, though, that Hinata would have treated you this way..."

Sasuke, looking into his cerulean orbs, shrugged.

"Those off-planet clearances never passed my desk, and they should have. I don't know how Roushi did it; apparently he's more dangerous than we had thought. But Hinata took clear advantage. I should have known, or guessed. The worst of it is, she _did _act within our codes. I can't have her disciplined." He shook his head slightly. "I see she didn't frighten you as badly as she intended."

"I don't scare easily." Sasuke hesitated, remembering Naruto would sense his feelings. "Well—she did... she intended it to be intimidating. But she might have it wrong. I'd"— he could hardly stomach how much his voice halted— "like to hear your side."

Naruto sighed, stood to his feet, and Sasuke apprehensively followed his motion. "Shall I be plain?"

The boy, now realizing that the idea of _plain_ might not be so mundane as the word suggested, nearly began to tremble. "Please."

Naruto took a step toward him, then another, until Sasuke could see the man in greater detail. Naruto did not seem quite so tall now though his chest and waist could have dwarfed Sasuke, wrapped in soft civilian clothes. Around his neck Sasuke saw a glistening gem, as pale green as Sakura's eyes, but the Jounin wore no other jewelry. The hands that now rose to gently touch Sasuke's shoulders were massive, calloused, but warm as they made contact with his skin. Blonde hair dangled a little low over his face, covering for an instant the eyes that Sasuke could lose himself in. When Naruto spoke, his voice was deep, husky, and sensual. "I will explain all you want to know, soon—as soon as possible—but— I am finally certain of my feelings for you." He drew his hands from Sasuke's shoulders to his neck, and Sasuke unconsciously stepped into the intimate touch, Naruto's tanned lips closer than ever. "I do want you, very much."

Such a blatant confession sent heat to Sasuke's face.

"Since I've first encountered you, I sensed our connaturality. There was a long turning for you, even to reawaken your interest in life. You needed to deal with the Federacy, your prejudices and lack of understanding, before you were ready to be pressured by any personal commitments. I never meant to deceive you. I've gone slowly, Sasuke. Jounin enter very young and very quickly into lifetime commitments, because we read one another. I've not asked that of you."

"That's true."

"You do fear me."

Sasuke realized his hands were shaking. In a whisper he asked, "Why should I believe you will let me change my own mind?"

Naruto's eyes closed; he took a step back. "I see that Hinata succeeded in one thing. You fear the very ways I would hope to please you."

The word _please_ echoed in Sasuke's head like a mantra. "But I – would be helpless, unable to—to back out if I..."

"To get away?" Angrily Naruto echoed Hinata's phrase. "I'd never try to coerce you, overpower you, or trick you. I want to be loved and accepted for myself too, not for what I can do with my chakra. If you fear them, I'll do nothing for you that another man could not."

Irritation flashed through Sasuke suddenly. "Don't you _dare _diminish yourself. Be what you are, and I'll do the same."

Naruto rested a hand on the table, leaned on it, and then straightened again. "That's more than I'd hoped for, Sasuke. I was prepared to be sent away." He shifted his feet. "You're upset. Shall I go?"

"No." Sasuke took a deep breath, tried to get his mind off his aching heart. "Tell me how things are on Oto."

Naruto drooped a little and looked away. "Not good," he said quietly, "but not openly bad. The Assembly seems to be accepting the changes we have made— but the Electorate has held power too long to be cut off without disrupting the entire system, and through those channels _nothing _goes right."

"I'm sure." Sasuke flicked his eyes to the window. "And I assume Orochimaru is still…?"

"Still what, Sasuke?" he asked gently.

"Agitating—making things as difficult as possible."

"In more than one way. He and First Prince Kabuto have disappeared, actually, under political leave. On vacation, I've been told."

"Vacation?" Sasuke gaped. "But we are— Otogakure is in _ruins_ and they leave on _vacation_?"

"I know, but it was granted by my superiors in hopes that their absence might make things easier. They're anywhere now but the capital."

Sasuke clenched his jaw, furious, but grudgingly nodded assent. "Did you ever see..." He hesitated. It hurt to ask. "The Haruno family?"

"No," Naruto said softly, and his forehead creased. "They are well though."

A forgotten bitterness seized Sasuke as he remembered Sakura's longing,

concealed by her kindness from all but him, for the closeness her family would not give.

Naruto fell quiet and walked over to the window, checking his watch. Sasuke saw him catch a glint from inside the glasteel panel, lean close and examine the honeycomb-patterned security grid. It cast odd shadows on his even features.

"What of Karin, Jugo, and—"

"Better, I believe. I assume you received their letter?"

Sasuke nodded, thinking back to Karin's kind words. The clothes she'd given him almost burned on his skin.

He sighed. When would he ever go home—and to what?

Naruto turned and smiled suddenly, nearly blinding Sasuke. "What if we went flying tomorrow? I've had a little racing jet for four months, and I've been so busy between here and Oto that I've had no chance to take it through its paces. I'd enjoy your company." He nodded toward the tiny game console, propped again below the window. "And if you'd bring that, I'd consider myself well repaid."

"Repaid?" Sasuke asked, casting a swift glance at the game. "For a game?"

"Ah, so you weren't told about it after all."

"About the game?"

Naruto's smile widened. "Will you come?"

Sasuke allowed himself a miniscule grin. "I'd like that. I haven't been out of here since—well with Hinata— never."

Naruto frowned. "She did intimidate you. What promise can I give you that I'll respect your will and give you room for your own decision?"

Why should Sasuke believe his claims of restraint? He'd seen what he could do! Unable to think of any stronger vow by which he might bind him, Sasuke said, "Give me your word as a Jounin."

"You have it."

"All right, then. I'd like to go out." But he felt flat, disappointed. All these weeks without seeing him, and now—just careful, distant talk? But, he reasoned, if he hoped to emerge from this unbalanced relationship unscathed he needed to keep a distance, but he was treating him as less than a friend! Would he feel Sasuke's tension?

Without thinking, the boy reached out an unsteady hand, touching the Jounin man's shoulder. "Naruto," he said, meeting his gaze. "Welcome back."

Those blue eyes glinted as he drew quickly away. "Thank you," he whispered. "It's good to be back."

**An almost… anti-climactic reunion, wouldn't you say? God I know **_**I**_** want them to just, you know, **_**bow chiga wow wow!**_** But alas, Naruto is too much of a gentleman or whatever. Douche… **

**I mean, we **_**all**_**know it should have been all like:**

"**Omg, you're back from the war!"**

"**Omg, Hinata was such a bitch!"**

"**Who cares! Let's fuck!"**

"**Sweet~ Clothes off!"**

_**Flip, flip, "ooohhh", SHOINK!**_

"**Wow, now that we've had sex, what happens to the plot?"**

"**Plot?... What plot?" **

**Both: "LOLOLOLOLOL"**

**Yeah… no… not yet! ;) **

**But soon…**

**Ps. If you laughed at the above, tell me! Makes me happy.**


	15. Chapter 14

**Loooool, HERE we go! Finally! The good shit!**

**I've been wanting to write this damn baby for a while, so I churned it out like Amish butter and wanted to serve it for an early morning breakfast! How ya like THEM apples?**

**Thanks for all the reviews, by the way. I'll tell ya what, you guys are fuckin' smart. Like you got me all figured out! Like CHIRST, I must be predictable or something, because you guys are all "Oh, this is what's gonna happen!" and I'm all… "No…" *****turns head away in shame***** **

**In any case, it'd be really nice if the reviews continued. I promise I will respond to as many of them as possible this time around! I used to do that all the time, but I got effin' busy!**

**Chapter 14**

The parking bay lay quiet in the last moments before dawn. Despite Naruto's clearance being given by both the commanding officers of MaxSec and the council, Sasuke could not shake the nervous feeling that always accompanied his sneaking out escapades. Perhaps it was because he normally violated restricted zones around this time, just before the rising sun would peer over the Otogakure mountain range in the east. Suna's very bright sun rose from the opposite side of the sky, however, and faster than Oto's did. The capitol's cityscape was even more breathtaking in person than from Sasuke's vantage point from his cell, and the sounds of whipping cars and the casual conversation of normal, living inhabitants nearly overwhelmed him, but he had few precious seconds in the open before they both ducked inside the dim parking garage.

"There she is." Naruto pointed. "What do you think?"

The small jet at the far western end looked like a silver projectile, half arrowhead, half dagger. Gleaming, back-curved wings tapered to a knife-edged chine that swept to its nose, and a glare-shielded cockpit bubble rose above twin atmospheric engines. The pilot in Sasuke leaped for joy.

"It's pretty," he said casually, feigning indifference. "What'll it do?"

"We're going to find out." Unlike Sasuke, Naruto did not hide the excitement from his voice, nearly bouncing with glee as they neared the vessel. Sasuke shook his head and opened the passenger entry. On his seat he found the five-point flight harness required by air codes for the most fleet-footed sort of atmospheric craft. Naruto's racing class speeder, whatever that specified, rose another notch in his estimation. He adjusted his harness as Naruto laid a duffel bag and soft flask in the cargo area, then the game cartridge case, and secured them all with a heavy net.

"How many standard g's are you qualified for, without a gravity suit?" Naruto asked as climbed into the pilot's seat, so close that their legs almost touched. Sasuke laughed inwardly when he saw that Naruto's leathers were the same black pattern as the craft's interior, and both were trimmed in a sunset orange.

"I don't know. Otogakure doesn't use Galactic Standard. Two-thirty-seven Oto pressure units, however that converts. Five-eighty with a life suit."

"And you don't scare easily?" He ignited the engines.

Sasuke smirked, finally in his element after all this time and proud to show it. "Try me."

"All right, _Your Highness_." He slid a throttle rod forward, and lazily the speeder glided out over the city.

"That's Capta—" He was cut off when the beep of a nearby speeder car buzzed to his left. He crossed his arms and shook his head.

Suna's capital passed slowly below them. The cockpit afforded almost 360 degrees of vision. He feasted on the growing glow in the sky and the panorama of the capital city within its ring of green hills.

When they left the city slow-zone behind, Naruto max'd the accelerator, and the thrust pressed Sasuke back and down as he pointed the sharp nose for the clouds. Sasuke reveled in the feeling. Naruto climbed at battle speed until the sky began to darken. Over-the-top in thrilling weightlessness, then he nosed into a lazy, downward spiral.

"She seems to handle fairly well." He reversed the spiral. "But this really doesn't demand much of her maneuverability."

"This civilian racer climbs faster than our tag-wings. No wonder we lost the war." Sasuke added the last part with an unintended hint of bitterness.

"This isn't entirely civilian-equipped." Naruto tightened the spiral, accelerated the dive, and they dropped like a spinning leaf, reversing again and again. Sasuke watched Naruto's hand move confidently on the rods and panels, barely tightening and relaxing. It was a tawny-colored hand, fine-boned—neither long-fingered and slender like Orochimaru's nor broad like his own, more typical of the Uchiha line—but strong-looking, and—

_Woah_! he started. _Okay, stop it, stop it._ _He's reading your emotions. Give in to that feeling, and eventually he'll. . _.

That only made it worse.

Naruto turned to him, and although his voice sounded casual, something in his eyes confirmed that he had read that emotional flicker. "Are you game for some fast low-level? That will tell me what I want to know about her gravidics."

"Sure. You seem to know what you're doing."

"Hang on, then."

The next few minutes were breathtaking. Naruto dove into a blackstone badlands area of spires and canyons and skimmed the ground at near-attack velocity, barely clearing ebony boulders, cornering at dizzying speed and doubling back with somersaulting accuracy. A natural arch loomed ahead, and the speeder shot through before Sasuke had time to flinch.

They soared high above the ground again. "No problems?" he asked.

"That was great." Sasuke's excitement only grew with each passing moment as Naruto threw them into a tight barrel-roll. He couldn't keep the roguish smile from stealing over his mouth.

"One more thing, then." Naruto laughed. He nosed down, set into a spin, and accelerated steadily. Sasuke's body flew to the back of his seat, his spine sticking to the leather interior even as he tried to lean forward. With baited breath, he watched the intensity on Naruto's face as he waited, waited for the last possible moment to pull out.

Trebled gravity drove Sasuke down into the seat as they took the bottom of the turn through the arch and soared again for the sky. Naruto shot him a glance once they had regained a respectable altitude. "Too much?"

"Are you kidding?" Sasuke near shouted, completely elated. "I didn't even know they could do that!"

"All right." He straightened out and steered for a broad, striated mesa. "I think the compensators pass inspection. Let's give her a rest."

"Rest?" Sasuke asked, trying not to sound like the disappointed child he felt on the inside. Naruto glanced to the side, making eye contact with the positively vibrating Sasuke as the boy tried not to smile, and then barked out a series of hearty laughs.

"Alright, alright, land!" Sasuke almost punched the Jounin for laughing right in his face and fixed on an angry expression as a safe default, but inwardly he could have laughed too.

Still chortling, Naruto made a casually perfect landing on dark stone and cut the engines. As Sasuke climbed out, the wind whipped his hair around his face. He gloried in the lifting, falling feeling, and stretched kinks from his limbs, gladly breathing the scent of unseen flowers and faraway thunderstorms.

Naruto strolled to the rim of the tableland and peered over at the glimmering yellow desert. They were thousands of meters high, and the sheer weight of the space made Sasuke light-headed in an anticipatory way. He glanced to the man beside him and felt the familiar, though frightening twinge he always felt when truly looking at Naruto. In civilian clothes, now stripped from the flight suit, he seemed a different man. Not a telepath, just a man who—who wanted him… _who had him alone, kilometers from anywhere._ He felt the skin at the back of his neck tighten at the thought. Why in all hell had he agreed to this?

Resolutely Sasuke marched himself over to join him. Naruto glanced at him, pulled a hand from a pocket of his coat and pointed downward. A creature that looked uncannily like a hunting bird soared far below. As it vanished behind a hillock, Naruto turned.

"Would you like to try, now?"

Sasuke froze in a panic. Now? Try _what_ now?

Naruto inclined his head toward the silver racing jet, and Sasuke rebuked himself for acting like a nervous little girl. Hurriedly he spun and headed back across the tableland. "I certainly would!"

He settled himself down in the pilot seat, eager to be off the tableau suddenly, adjusting the seat and foot-bars for himself. Naruto got in and enacted similar motions. "The control board is totally different from a Otogakure display. Here, I'll show you."

Naruto's hands (for Sasuke could find no nerve to meet the Jounin in those intense baby-blues) spoke as much as words as he gestured over the headboard, giving Sasuke the Federation version of Otogakure formulas so that Sasuke could calculate in his head how to estimate trajectory and wind-speed despite the foreign machine.

When satisfied that he had the board unscrambled, Sasuke fired up the engines and gently took it off the mesa. His tension instantly vanished into safe concentration, which comforted his turbulent mind greatly. He dropped into the badlands at about half Naruto's speed and cruised closely along its contours, mounting small ridges and dropping into adjacent watersheds.

Naruto seemed completely at ease inside the fighter, which Sasuke felt to be terribly unfair given his own rather unsteady mindset. Though, with a sly smile and only half a thought as a warning to Naruto, he punched the accelerator, which had the grown Jounin man hanging on to the console in front of him before his head smacked against the back of the chair. It was Sasuke's turn to laugh as he executed a half-eight through and over a looming arch, accelerating through twisted canyons, and swooping back toward the mesa. He pulled into a long climb over its bulk, and watched the badlands disappear behind before summersaulting like fallen stone end over end then blasting back toward the canyons once more.

"Not bad," Naruto breathed, and Sasuke could have sworn he felt a glimmer of admiration (not his own) ripple through the air. Prodded by the emotion, he pulled the craft upward and then back down in a maneuver similar to one Naruto had done earlier but (he thought smugly) with a little more flair, an additional spinning twist added to the end. There were no words to describe such elation: the feeling of his body being weightless and weighted all at once, the speed and maneuverability with which the craft sliced through the air. Sasuke drank it in as his first real moment of utter joy since he'd been that fifteen-year-old boy, high-jacking a Sharingan 11-90 in the dead of night.

As he looked ahead, the mountains in the distance were shadowed green with summer. He suddenly ached to explore them, to taste the air around their bases and rest his back against the tiny trees he could see line their spines. He could, he apprehended with a small gasp. His life was his. He could do whatever he wanted.

"Find a place to eat," Naruto suggested softly as Sasuke began to slow his speed.

"It's not time to eat yet, is it?"

"As a matter of fact." He touched the panel. "If that's how closely you watch your instruments, I'm surprised you passed flight school."

Sasuke laughed softly, a foreign sound on his lips. But he'd been laughing all day, hadn't he?

"Actually, you are a good pilot, for such a new one. The Otogakure fleet was foolish to waste you."

"Despite the fact that I couldn't even crash a fighter-craft properly when I was supposed to?" Sasuke said with a savage grin.

Near the divide of the second range, he found a round lake-let nestled in a cirque amid old-growth forest, and set down below it in the meadow. As he climbed out, Naruto pulled out the hand-held game and lunch packet and swung them over one shoulder, then held out a hand to him. "Watch your step. Tripvine."

"Is that what's blooming?" Ignoring his hand, Sasuke bent down to examine the tangled groundcover. From under a round leaf he picked a tiny purple blossom shaped like a trumpet and held it to his nose. "Yes, that's it. I've smelt it once on the wild plains. It was summer."

"They export the extract for perfume, but the stems are as tough as docking cable. I'm not exaggerating." He offered the hand again.

Sasuke took it. Carefully they walked up the vine-covered field to the lake, water and leaves riffling in a warm breeze.

"Over by the water, on one of those rocks?" he suggested. Naruto changed direction without comment, and they scrambled over fallen trees and stones to the tallest boulder, well over twice Sasuke's height.

"You first." Naruto boosted him to shoulder height. He found a good toehold and scrambled the rest of the way up the mottled stone. Naruto tossed him the bags and then jumped to the top.

Sasuke's chin dropped. The rock wall was at least— Sasuke did the math— six meters high.

Naruto grimaced at his surprised face. "Does that disturb you?"

In awe Sasuke shook his head. "Do something else."

Turning toward the shore, he lifted one hand. A glacier-smoothed boulder rolled into the air and landed with a slurping splash.

Sasuke swallowed his protest. He'd asked for it. In or out of uniform, this man was Jounin.

"We keep most of our abilities quiet in public." He sat down beside Sasuke, and his gaze went to the rocky skyline above the cirque. "They do cost us energy. It's also highly improper to use Jounin skills unnecessarily, even in Federate service. A government that rules by fear is no government at all."

"Like the Electorate." Sasuke slid off the boots Karin had sent, the unused, hard soles wearing on his feet, then knelt and helped Naruto with the lunch parcel. "I suppose it took a lot of work to learn those skills."

"It did. The Academy is grueling."

Sasuke poured clear red liquid from the flask into a pair of cups and offered him one. "Did they teach you other things, too? Arts? Science?"

"I only finished the military specialty. I wanted too badly to fly, and it was the only way I could afford to get into a spacecraft. At the time, I was getting so much pressure to try politics that I ignored any course of study that might have hinted I was going along with their plans for me. Now I wish I'd broadened. I would have had plenty of time."

Sasuke nodded consent.

"What about your Academy?"

He sipped the cool berry juice and honestly tried not thinking about it as he answered. "It must be the same everywhere. Flight. Dynamics. Slip physiology. Weaponry, systemic planetography, basic strategies. Astrogation." He slowed, trying to recall what had kept him so busy for so long.

"Interrogation and Resistance."

Sasuke glanced at him sharply. He was smiling. Very well, he could make light of it if Naruto could. "Not enough, though."

"Poor instruction." he offered a small yellow candy. "Have you ever had okashi?"

On his tongue it melted to a puddle of sweet-sour, and he made a face.

"You don't like it?" Naruto smiled.

Sasuke's mouth worked furiously over the taste and he squinted his eyes. "Sweet. Ugh..." The sour flavor proved to be a bit much, but he swallowed the remainder. Naruto chuckled and popped two in his mouth at once. Sasuke shuddered.

They gathered up remnants of food, scattering crumbs over the edge of the boulder. Sasuke wrestled momentarily with an urge to tell him about the Naka Shrine and its ordnance laboratory, then pulled the game from its covering. Naka could wait a day.

He lay out, legs curled lightly over one another, as he played the game absently, though somehow he'd gotten so good at it that his fingers ran of their own accord. Finally, he realized Naruto was watching him, a hint of amusement on his face.

"What?" Sasuke asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"That is a Konoha game," Naruto said. "I used to play it quite often as a boy."

"You did?"

A nod.

"This… isn't a Jounin game, is it?"

A nod and a smile.

Instantly, Sasuke's curiosity was piqued. "Really?"

"It's a reflex builder, essentially," Naruto said with a grin, putting another candy into his mouth as he lay back as well. "We give it to the children of our race who aren't really… doing so well in school."

"Oh, then there's _no way_ you've played it before," Sasuke jabbed smugly.

"No, as I said before, I did. The first years I had at the Academy, I was the class clown. No one liked me, so I made jokes and pulled pranks. Nearly failed every test and played that game for hours on end in the corner."

Sasuke's smile faded. "You're joking."

"I'm not."

Without warning, Sasuke released one of the greatest tirades of laughter he'd ever allowed himself in front of anyone but Itachi. "You can't be serious! General Naruto Uzumaki, with his 99 percent Senju ranking, the _Hokage_… a dobe?"

It was Naruto's turn to look befuddled. "Dobe?"

"Our classes had…haha.. ranks. The Dobe was the term for the one in _dead last_ position. I guess that was you...haha.. then?" He gave out his version of a giggle. "That is just priceless. How in Six Alpha did you manage to pull that off with your level being so high?"

Naruto's confused face settled into a wry, twisted grin. "Well I supposed back then I had another set of skills that I swapped out for these later on."

Sasuke's tirade of laughter only increased at his comment, until the poor boy had to hold his sides. There was such a feeling of relief washing over him, as if an insurmountable obstacle had been easily hurtled in his mind. Naruto, for all his strength and uncanny abilities, had been a dobe! As a Missling, Sasuke would have been killed _sooner_ if he'd ever stooped to such a low position, and he suddenly took fierce pride and untapped joy that Naruto, the most powerful humanoid man in the Federacy, had once been at a lower station than Sasuke himself. It was pride and a selfish ego, he thought quickly, that elicited such a response, but he wouldn't quell it. His pride was something that had been nearly destroyed in recent events, with the shame of both his own weakness and the Electorate's murderous nature. He reveled in the idea that Naruto was human, loved it; warmth spread through his chest, and when his laughter finally died into small chuckles, he finally realized that Naruto had been unabashedly staring at him the entire time.

Sasuke's face instantly reddened and he closed his eyed to avoid the gaze, turning away.

"Sasuke?"

"Hmm?" He tried to sound nonchalant.

"May I touch your mind?" He did not answer. "Only a touch, Sasuke, only a feathering. As you have just touched me."

"T-touched you? I didn't'…" His neck hairs prickled again. He'd done nothing of the sort, though, he realized in shame that Naruto must have felt his relief, the utter happiness, and the swell of his near emaciated pride. But to allow a… touch? Hinata had warned that he would never be the same, never get away if he ever allowed Naruto to approach him. But he had good powers of resistance. And the idea of Naruto… if it was _Naruto…_

_Maybe_, he conceded, _just this once, and I could still escape_.

But his voice near trembled. "All right."

Naruto's eyes reflected the sky; he didn't move or speak.

Past the surface of Sasuke's awareness there blew a sensation of approval so deep, so complete, that he wanted moan aloud for such tender ecstasies passing through him. Laughing at himself, for his fears that hadn't come true, he set the console back into the padded case.

"You— know what I need, don't you?" And suddenly the feeling in his chest swelled to pure adoration, though he knew Naruto had done nothing to incite it. Knowing that the Jounin could feel it as plainly as he could, Sasuke shifted his eyes away, embarrassed.

"I could fill that need in you, Sasuke, for as long as I live." He felt a gentle touch along the bottom of his chin, and without thinking he grasped the warm hand.

Only then did he appreciate Hinata's warning. A person who had been stroked in that way would want more, and still more, until he was helplessly trapped. Hastily he disconnected, sitting up, and changed the subject. "Could you really free-fall?"

"Yes. It's well within my grasp if I'm rested."

"And if I jumped?"

"I could land you. Do you want to try it?"

He hesitated. What perverse impulse had made him choose _that _subject? _But I might never get another chance_, he told himself. "Yes." He scrambled to his feet. "I do."

Thirty minutes later they faced into the gale on the windy ridge, looking down on the water, the dark forest, and the silver speeder, dropped like a hyperextended triangle onto the green meadow.

"Naruto," he said abruptly. "Something's been bothering me."

He lifted one eyebrow but said nothing.

"It's crazy, it—seems such a contradiction. But you Jounin are trained in emotional control. You have to be, to face the barrage of others' feelings—that makes sense. But then how..." He scuffed a stone with one foot. "How can a Jounin relax that control enough to love?"

Naruto tilted his head and thought for a moment. "We too have hopes," he said. "Subjective, personal—like everyone. Once the emotions are released we love deeply, perhaps more deeply than any others. We do not forget the wonder of finding and winning."

Gazing out into the hazy distance, Sasuke nodded. "Then explain pair bonding. I'm not—_committing_ myself, you understand, but you promised to explain some things."

Naruto sat down on a large flat stone and Sasuke took one just downwind, slightly sheltered by his body from the hair-lashing blast. "It's not as 'rough on outsiders' as Hinata wanted you to believe, although very few of us marry out." He took a long breath. "Pair bonding is a deep link that manifests itself primarily in the emotions. Each feels with the other, any time the other is near."

"The way you can read me now?"

"No. Deeper, more certain, and the awareness becomes integrated into the other senses. There is an adjustment period, but it's not long. A few weeks, perhaps, for you—but less for me, because I have years of mentalic training."

_I'd halve the time._

—_what! _

Sasuke shook his head, his skin tingling. He quickly asked, "But an outsider wouldn't be taken over?"

"Absolutely not. Only... uncomfortable, for a time."

Sasuke studied the rocks at his feet, flat-sided fragments of a disintegrating sedimentary layer. That impulsive feeling calmed finally, logic taking its place. "I'd like to believe you. But it's easy for you to make that statement and impossible to prove." Naruto looked away, and Sasuke shifted to a more comfortable position. "Your parents are pair-bonded?"

"They were." He sounded wistful. "They were very happy together. It took my mother years to recover completely after my father died. When I understood it, I ached for her. That's a powerful argument against your having me, Sasuke. In my profession, it's possible that I'd… leave you early on."

"They were both Jounin?"

He nodded. "Military, strong. From Konoha families, and both trained."

"Then, how many of your people marry outside?"

"Oh..." Sasuke watched him consider. "Maybe one percent, at the most. Like your people, we are very wary of new blood."

"Would it weaken you, to be bonded to an outsider?"

Naruto sighed. "Yes. You can't shield your mind from hostile influences as I can, nor have you been trained to control pain or intense emotion."

"Which you would then pick up." He stared off down the valley, where the stream fell away from its mother lake like a white ribbon on deep green carpet. "It would be a step backward for you, then."

"Not entirely. You have strengths of your own, talents in other areas..." His deprecatory half-smile surprised him. "Connaturality of personality, you see, does not necessarily mean any degree of intelligence matching."

"Oh." He caught a clear idea of one kind of match that had been offered. Then he thought of another. "What about Hinata?"

He nodded. "Marginally connatural. There have been speculations about the two of us, of course, since we're in similar work. I've been the victim of many predictions, though. That makes your company enjoyable, Sasuke. You expect of me only what I am."

Uncomfortable suddenly, he hesitated. "Under it all, though, I think you're as lonely as I am."

"'Lonely' is not quite the right word." Sasuke picked up a chunk of rock and hefted it, watching him and waiting. "I live surrounded by people whom I could know, easily." He looked down at his feet. "Yet I'm forbidden to approach them closely enough to find real friends. Most outside the Jounin kindred builds special walls against us: either awe and too much honor, or fear and suspicion. So no one knows me. Even you don't know my personality the way I know yours from access. If you did, you'd know how alike we are."

But they were worlds different, in blood and allegiance. Sasuke's mind echoed with words spoken in other times and places: "A matter of Federate security"… "You could still be a great help to us"...

"Hinata said I could cost you the High Command."

"That was a valid point." He shrugged and shifted his feet.

"Why, Naruto?"

"My single-mindedness would be suspect," he said drily. "Not only are you not from Konoha; you're not Federate."

_With the rank he has achieved at his age_, he reminded herself, _he _would _have a shot at the top_. "No, I'm not Federate. At this moment I have no country at all."

A silence stretched between them, the howling wind whipped over the plateau.

"Sasuke, if you married me, what name would you take?" Naruto asked with surprising intensity in his expression.

"M-married? I—" Sasuke felt his mouth go dry. "I haven't thought about it—but I certainly wouldn't expect you to become an Uchiha."

"That's good."

Unexpectedly stung, Sasuke's newfound pride swelled. He saw in Naruto's startled expression that he hadn't meant to insult him, and he choked off the retort that sprang too easily to mind but withdrew sharply. "You wouldn't want it."

"Would you?"

"Naruto, that name has been my life!"

"It almost took your life."

Sasuke could see from his tiny smile-wrinkles that he was trying to tease, and the boy quelled his anger quickly. "All right, I'll tell you how I feel." Tossing the stone over the side, he looked at Naruto steadily, knowing he would read his feelings all the more easily for it. "I won't refuse you, but I can't commit myself, not yet. Not to anyone."

Naruto's eyes flicked to each of his in turn. "You'd like to."

"I... maybe." Sasuke forced his gaze to stay on his. His longing for understanding had momentarily overcome his independence.

"But you still don't trust me," Naruto said.

"I'm sorry."

"I understand," he said gently. "Because you are valuable to the Federacy, you suspect my intentions, and you have every right to do so. I too question what I'd do if it came to a choice between your interests and those of my people." He took Sasuke's hand and massaged it. "There must be one highest priority in your life for which you'll give everything else—your life, your possessions, your hope— or you're not a full person."

"Don't I know it." He glanced down, admiring the tan fingers he saw there. "And what do you do when that one highest priority fails you, Naruto?"

"You find a higher."

Sasuke nodded. Higher than his duty to Electorate, there had always been Otogakure. But higher still had been his loyalty to his family and the abstracts they represented: truth, justice and love: no longer the warmth of affection after their deaths, but searing, sacrificial love. To that he could be true, whether he politically stood with Oto or the Federacy.

"Meanwhile." Naruto stood and brushed rock dust from his leathers. "Would you trust me enough to jump, if I went first? It _is_ the easy way down."

Sasuke snorted, appreciating the paradox Naruto saw. He was willing to entrust the Jounin with his life in free-fall, because the worst that could happen would be a very bad landing. But if he drew too close to him, the worst that could happen was… Unfathomable.

His scramble to his feet masked a shiver. What if he bound himself to a Jounin, and one day he turned on Sasuke? But if they were truly bonded, would Naruto be capable of such a thing?

Undaunted, he stepped up to the cliff and peered over the side. The ridge was nearly as tall as MaxSec and just as sheer. "I hate climbing downhill. I'd rather go the easy way."

"Then, here's what we'll do." Naruto stared downward as if picking his landing spot. "I'll go first. Once I'm down, give me a minute to rest. I think you'll feel it when I take a good kinetic grasp on you. Then don't wait too long, and be sure to jump outward far enough."

He walked to the other side of the ridge. Sasuke stood motionless, still not quite sure he meant to do it. Then he began to run, and he took a leap onto—nothing. Sasuke's heart pounded as the Jounin's shadow rushed to meet his feet so far down he could hardly see it.

Knees bent and arms outstretched, Naruto alighted, absorbing the impact with casual grace. He dropped to his knees, resting, then got up, turned and raised an arm. Sasuke felt an invisible force take hold of him.

Sasuke closed his eyes, trying to ascertain the tumult of feelings in his chest: nervousness, the approval Naruto had given him before, the adoration, the fear. And now the jump. _This is ridiculous_, he rebuked himself. He had wanted to fly since he was four, and Hinata had insisted it was easier to control another falling object than one's own body. Sasuke walked back five steps from the edge, ran forward, and jumped.

His unruly hair whipped behind his shoulders and upward from his head as the mountain air rushed past. It was glorious—better than the dive he'd taken in the speeder. When he shut his eyes for a moment, the falling feeling went on, and on, like a dream. But he had to watch!

Naruto stood below him. Time seemed to expand: every half-second of the plunge stretched to a minute. Naruto's arms opened to receive him. At last he slowed almost to a stop, caught the glitter of the Jounin's eyes, and fell the last meter into his arms. He clung there, breathless.

One of Naruto's hands slipped up to his throat, tangled into his hair, and then curled around the back of his head. Sasuke shut his eyes in pleasure. A gentle, hesitant kiss warmed his temple. He tilted his head back, offering his lips, abandoning caution for a tiny, joyous moment to thank Naruto for the day. The pressure of the Jounin's mouth was like a spark, crackling and intense, wet and sticky. He tasted of the sweet okashi, rich pine and something Sasuke couldn't identify, though it enraptured him so.

An unexpected twinge in his stomach and Sasuke could suddenly feel euphoria that wasn't his own pull him into a wild fervor, grappling Naruto closer as he hungrily devoured the Jounin's panting mouth. Knocked over by the intensity, Naruto knelt down, laying Sasuke in warm grass to hold him closer, wrapping legs with legs as the echo of both their emotions resonated between them, growing louder and more unbearable with each moment. Sasuke released a dry moan, overwhelmed by the sheer ferocity with which Naruto kissed him and how much he responded in turn.

Kisses were foreign entities to a Missling, bestowed normally on the true heirs; Sasuke remembered sweet kisses his mother used to give him, the gentle ones Itachi had placed on his forehead, the sedate ones Sakura placed on wounds and a sweaty brow. They all paled in comparison to the grave ferocity with which Naruto truly consumed Sasuke with his mouth. Though the Jounin never left Sasuke's lips, the boy's entire body pulsed with fire. His thoughts began to rush together as Naruto sighed into his mouth, and he slowly pushed trembling fingers into the blonde, surprisingly soft hair, making nonsense patterns and feeling so _damn good _he could shiver. Sasuke nicked Naruto's ear, and then he did shiver, shocked by the tingle of nerves skating across his neck and down his chest despite the fact that _he'd_ touched Naruto, not the reverse. Then he realized without warning that just as Naruto could feel Sasuke's emotions, Sasuke was starting to feel the Jounin's responses, down to the softness of his own skin against Naruto's fingers.

Suddenly alarmed by the fervor of his own reaction, Sasuke felt his body quiver, then go rigid.

Naruto quickly drew back, placing huge hands on either side of Sasuke's chest A rueful expression clouded his sapphire eyes. "Sasuke," he whispered. "Don't fear me. I will never try to hurt you, nor to dominate you."

"I—I know," he stammered. "I just..." Sasuke buried his head against the massive, warm shoulder, inhaling, and then pushed slowly away. Below the speeder lay in quiet sleep, the only witness to the event, though Sasuke felt exposed, near nude. Naruto frightened and intrigued him in ways he'd never before experienced, despite being the recipient of Sakura's affections. He thought when he had rejected the idea of marrying Sakura that he knew exactly what he had turned down, but the fire in his veins was so hot that he wondered if he would have had the strength to do so if he'd _known_. But then again, this unnatural connection that he and Naruto held was an addictive force, and Hinata's words once again rang inside his head: _you'll never escape it._

Though, as Sasuke looked down to Naruto's still impassioned face, he wondered if he wouldn't mind being trapped with this man forever.

**Oooohhh so that's the end of that chapter. A hint of steam, nothing more. Are you angry with me? I wanted to make it hotter, remove some clothing, but Naruto's damn gentlemanly nature always gets in my way! I keep thinking "No, Naruto wouldn't say that/do that," and then things get cut out. Therefore I have to let Sasuke lead things, but he's so apprehensive that he stops **_**right **_**as it's getting good. **

**You'd think a dude would be more eager, testosterone and all…**

**I don't know. Love scenes are hard for me… Lol, **_**hard**_** for me. I'm awful .**

**Oh, please review by the way. I'll say something nice back to you, I bet ;)**


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

For the first time in his life, High King Orochimaru Sannin Uchiha had worked a morning with his hands— and he had found himself enjoying it, because he labored for a great cause. Swirling a conical flask with one hand, he added enrichment broth drop by drop to a murky soup of dark gi88reen algae. Across the narrow, granite-walled laboratory, the recently promoted First Prince Kabuto hunched over the blue screen at a massive desk Orochimaru had purchased to flatter him. Kabuto's white laboratory coat was splotched with browned algae. Orochimaru glanced down. His own coat remained spotless, of course.

"Let them wonder if we've found a way to make a sun go nova—or ionize all the water of a world," Orochimaru simpered, smiling as he set the flask down and reached for the last one. The stone shelf ran the long dimension of the office-laboratory, with brilliant overhead lumas to facilitate algal growth, for there were no windows: the room lay far below Naka Shrine. "These little green killers will serve us just as nicely."

"Ionize water." Kabuto humphed, and twisted his long body to face his brother. "You need brush up your knowledge in the sciences. That reaction requires energy, it doesn't release it."

"That's why I'm helping you today: to broaden my education. It's nice to do _many _things well." Delicately, minding his fingernails, Orochimaru filled his auto-pipette with broth and began treating the next flask. The strain was safe to handle, in this phase. Only in the presence of Tenojin would this algae mutate and begin to produce deadly toxin: only under hard radiation would it bloom, but under those circumstances it would multiply so prodigiously as to fill a world's oceans with poison within days.

_But only for the good of Otogakure's rightful rulers_. Orochimaru smiled with great dignity. _Deadly endeavors are justified only by that end, for focusing wealth and power where it can best be wielded, not scattered to the weak_. It was what he told Kabuto, anyway.

_There have been accidents before_, he reminded himself. _But timing is everything_. A bell chimed beside Kabuto's desk. He hit a button. "What is it?" he growled.

"My Lord, the parcel has arrived."

"Well, well," Orochimaru smirked. He set down auto-pipette and flask and wiped dampness from his hands on a towel. "This should be word from the Electorate."

They hurried out into the broad stone accessway, and Orochimaru stroked the palmlock of a huge metal door. This eastern branch of the tunnel had been used for medical projects in the past, and Kabuto seemed most satisfied to be installed here. He almost never came up into the daylight, and he blinked repeatedly in the sun, obviously uncomfortable with the brightness.

The awaited parcel lay uplevel in the master room. Kabuto crossed the expanse quickly and seized one of the folders, eyes skimming the page while Orochimaru poured himself a glass of dark-colored alcohol, his mouth smirking with celebration into the cup.

Kabuto said at last, "It passed, Orochimaru, even with Uzumaki's new Electors. The mission will go ahead, as we planned—through channels this time, as we should have tried before."

"Whatever works, works, Kabuto. Whom will they send to get him?"

"That is the best part." Kabuto raised his eyes. "Captain Tomoe of the Electoral Police, to

represent Sasuke's past, his obligations to his people and his family—and Marshal Nakahara, the very officer who administered his commissioning oath. Everyone knows what that commission meant to him. I'm certain our cousin will do the honorable thing if confronted honorably."

Orochimaru snorted and sent a sidelong glance out the sweep of windows toward Naka Mountain's towering triple peak. "The boy is utterly, entirely selfish, Kabuto. You'll see. He'll do everything he can to _avoid _the highest honor we could give him."

Kabuto lowered removed his spectacles, rubbing them absently on the lab coat. "Just as well, though…" Orochimaru glanced to see Kabuto's troubled expression. "I do feel sorry for him, sometimes."

At last, he admitted his chief weakness! Orochimaru seized the opportunity to set him back on the straight path. "Kabuto, your nature is noble, but in this case your sympathy is unbefitting a nobleman. Sasuke was raised a willing Missling," he said patiently. "He is a traitor now, a Federate informer. He will not suicide, so to salvage his reputation among future generations—for his own sake— we must see that he is brought back. The Electoral Police will take charge of him, as is their rightful office. They will _honor _him by doing so." Orochimaru stared past Kabuto's shoulder toward the portrait of Madara they had brought—with others—to dignify the Shrine, and he warmed to his subject. That last King of Otogakure had left this world a weakened man, unfit of his title and rank.

And Sasuke had a perverse inner strength. Orochimaru had known that all his life, too. Tha Missling was strong enough to seize power, to destroy the ways of the Law, tear apart the fabric of Oto tradition—strong enough to threaten him. For Otogakure's sake, that must not happen.

"You won't see him imprisoned at the palace," he declared. "The Akatsuki have detention facilities at their lower town office: a quiet, soundproof set of quarters. They'll hold him there—question him—until arrangements can be made for a proper, public trial, with all the pomp our House can afford. Not even the Occupation Governor will interfere, if the Suna council bind him over." He gave a long sigh and turned his gaze back to Kabuto. "They'll make an example of him. What would become of our homeland if every Missling disrupted his family and scattered its resources? Yet his crimes have been far worse. Sasuke has committed treason, and he must be punished."

Kabuto nodded. "You're right," he whispered.

-oOo-

When Sasuke learned that Naruto had access to physical-training facilities in the tower, he all but jumped at the subsequent offer to take him there, early in the mornings. Sasuke had had far too little physical exercise since leaving Otogakure, despite his own regimen in his room. For a week, they politely neglected one another on training time. On the sixth morning, though, as Sasuke struggled with an upper body vari-cycler, Naruto abruptly left his own station and paced toward him.

"Stop for a minute. You're trying much too hard. I know that side has been injured, but your body should relax into what you're trying to accomplish, no matter how difficult. Your effort is so loud in your mind that I can scarcely think."

Sasuke blinked, embarrassed, forced himself to loosen his muscles and finish the set before looking Naruto's way again. The General had settled onto the nearest bench to sit forward and rest. His arms and shoulders glistened, and the skin-thin white training suit clung to his chest and hips.

Sasuke ignored the trickle creeping down his own chest and swallowed at the enticing sight, feeling his face flush mortifyingly. For a moment, he fretted mercilessly with himself that the Jounin might sense his unease and sought to quell it with every fiber of restraint he possessed, not an easy task given the nature of their budding, albeit confusing (undefined) relationship. "It must be hard for outsiders to maintain their privacy on Konoha," Sasuke said out loud, "around so many of you people."

"Not 'so many,'" Naruto replied wryly. "Even counting the untrained, we are fewer than two percent of all Konoha citizens. And part of our training—the least popular part—is the Privacy and Priority Code: when we're allowed to use our skills, when we're not, and when we must. Memorization and then thousands of hypothetical cases, two hours a day for three years."

Sasuke wiped his forehead. "Three years?"

"The death penalty is enforced for 'capricious or selfish exercise of Jounin skills.'"

Sasuke thought of Hinata and Roushi Younbi. "So I gathered."

"The moral testing before acceptance for training protects us, as well as the rest of our society."

"You said one day you could sometimes sense the direction the future is moving. Hinata never mentioned that."

"It is part of Hokage's training, which she has not taken. _Myoboku _was the Jinchurikis' word for what we see: like a branching path or a vast watershed of possibilities."

"Is it difficult to live normally, knowing all you know?"

"Define 'normally.'" The blonde man lay back on the bench, grinning cheekily. "It doesn't affect me as much as you probably think." He directed his words at the high ceiling. "I only get bits and glimpses, and I have to sort them out. Like dreams, some never come to be."

"Mm. So if you're sent on a mission, you don't necessarily know how it will go."

"Of course not. When the will of another is involved, it's no sure guide at all."

"Such as me."

He looked Sasuke's way, and something in those smiling eyes shifted. "Such as you."

Suddenly uncomfortable with the Jounin's intense gaze, reminiscent of the eyes Sasuke had seen days before in the flowered field a week or so ago, he averted his attention and glanced elsewhere. The gym was just as impressive if not more so than the military recreational facility on Otogakure, equipped with every piece of machinery Sasuke was familiar with and then with those he wasn't. To his left were a series of treadmills, most of them occupied by sweating Federate men and women; on his right past another few isles of machines, a set of clear sliding doors led out to a padded court area. Through the transparent doors, Sasuke saw a few muscled military types, standing in a wide circle while two men sparred recreationally in the middle. Sasuke's heart ached with longing as it normally did when he beheld the sight. During the first few days, the injury to his chest had hurt him more than he would express out loud, but now only tinges of lingering stiffness remained. He wondered absently if he could at least watch the spars without being noticed.

Naruto, whether it was because of his Jounin mentality or his own shrewdness, guessed Sasuke's thoughts. "Want to see it?"

Without speaking, Sasuke leapt to his feet, excited but mustering his feelings into control so that Naruto wouldn't ascertain them. As they neared the men, having scanned Naruto's security card to get access out of the sliding doors, Sasuke could tell from the sounds of the cheering that one of the fights was already over.

"Way to go, Kiba!" one of the soldiers cheered good-naturedly from Sasuke's left. Peering over the shoulders of the shorter men, his heart leapt as he saw Kiba, the same guard who had watched over him in the war room weeks before, shake the hands of his defeated opponent, while giving the younger kid a slap back. Murmurs of congratulations were cast in Kiba's direction; the man grinned wolfishly and tugged on a loose-fitting white shirt while shaking hands with a new set of admirers. Sasuke hadn't realized it when he'd first met the man in his simple military uniform, but looking at him now, he found Kiba to be a tower of hardened muscle, intimidating despite his easy-going nature.

Kiba obviously saw Sasuke in the next minute, because his smile broke out wider as he shoved other men aside to clear his own path. "Yo, Kid!" he chortled joyfully, grabbing Sasuke's hand and shaking it almost out of its socket. "There ya are, you little rascal! I was wondering how you fared! And Naruto!" He reached to give the taller man a hug, which Naruto returned with a laugh.

"You're looking well, Kiba."

"Are you kidding me? After Ame, they sent me on leave: three months with nothing to do! I'm in heaven!"

Sasuke didn't miss Naruto's deliberate look of jealousy. A high-pitched beeping noise sounded before the Jounin could form a reply, and he reached quickly into his belt pocket, retrieving a small circular com-link. "Uzumaki."

The next fight had begun behind the three men, their cheers so loud that Sasuke couldn't hear the words being said at the other end of the receiver. However, Naruto's reply he did catch.

"Be right there."

Sasuke's heart sunk. He'd be returned to his quarters, left more than likely for the remainder of the day in cold boredom to pace about his rooms.

Naruto undoubtedly caught his emotional flare; this time Sasuke had done nothing to hide it. "Kiba," he said seriously to his friend. "Will you do something for me? Sasuke has to be escorted whenever he's out of his cells. Something's come up today. Would you mind?"

Dark brown eyes sparked as a wide grin broke across the man's tan face. "Mind? Of course not! This kid's got spunk!" He grabbed Sasuke forcibly around the shoulders. "Now scuttle off, you. Wouldn't want to keep whoever called you waiting." To illustrate his point, he added a dismissive shooing motion to his free hand. Helplessly, Sasuke fought not to smile at his condescending mannerisms toward a General of the Federacy. _But they've been friends a long time,_ he remembered.

"When my business is finished," Naruto said to him with a small smile, "I'll return. Don't let Kiba get you into trouble."

Unable to resist, Sasuke smirked smugly. "I never get into trouble."

With the roll of bright, blue eyes, Naruto walked past the sliding clear doors and onto the lift outside the gym that would take him up to MaxSec's military offices.

Kiba, watching as the hulking blonde faded into the distance suddenly turned to the boy at his side. "You any good at fighting kid?"

Sasuke now smiled genuinely. He'd been unrivaled amongst Otogakure Academy trainees in hand-to-hand combat; if there was one thing he knew he could do well, it was fight. "You're about to find out."

-oOo-

When on leave, Naruto made it a point to stay as far from his office as possible. He preferred to sort his mail on the S.O. floor rather than having it sent up, though, so on this blustery morning, he wasn't surprised by the call from his secretary about the stack of letters and documents waiting on his desk. The pileup was diminishing. After two scrolls of the screen, he flipped through a small stack of papers: routine messages, advertisements, and pleas addressed to him but which would be better handled by Special Operations— and one innocuous-looking brown packet whose return marking caught him completely by surprise: a private message from Jiraya Sannin, his sponsoring Master, apparently brought by messenger service. More than a Master, Jiraya was the spiritual hierarch of Konoha and Naruto's personal friend since he'd been a boy. Without his one-on-one help, Naruto never would have left his dismal rank of "Dobe"— as Sasuke called it. He quickly tucked the packet into a jacket pocket.

Neither secretary glanced up when he hurried out to the lift. A minute later, he stepped off at the seventy-fourth floor, Security I housing, onto the brown shortweave carpet of an entry alcove. A white-clad guard stood at attention at every door down the passway. Halting at his own apartment, he thumbed the ID disk the guard held out to him. He and his guard reached simultaneously for a single broad lockpanel, and the door slid away.

Between the dining nook on his left and his private study, he walked to the edge of a deeply sunken living area whose sweep of windows overlooked much of the city. Unnoticing, he sank onto a step and pulled the scribepaper from his pocket.

_Naruto:_

_I regret to inform you, my dear boy, that I cannot be as candid in this address as I have been in the ones I have sent you before. I give my respects to you, Hokage, and address you as a member of the Jounin kind and my student thereafter._

Naruto paused in his reading, ascertaining that Jiraya was writing to him now not as his friend and mentor but as a ranking official of Konoha with important advice to bestow. He read on quickly.

_Is it true what Hinata Hyuga has written to me, that your heart leans toward one outside our kindred? The thought gives me no joy, yet I can guess only one reason for it. You of all men know that without absolute connaturality any bonding would bring pain, and for one of your intensity it would be crippling. You need not protest that you have bonded no partner already for this reason; indeed I know it. Life with an outsider, though, could be difficult. Hold steadfast. Be certain of the person and yourself, and be willing to refuse his advances if necessary._

_More than that I will not say, except that you are in my awareness and surrounded by my hopes. In steadfast love, _

_Gamma Sannin_

_Jiraya_

Escaping breath whistled between Naruto's lips. _Hinata, interfering again_! But hoping to draw a reprimand from the Sage, she had won him what amounted to an expression of support.

That sobered him. He understood what he was considering: a break in his family's line, ignoring the customs that had kept the Jinchuriki genes from dissipating. "Life with an outsider..." Yes. Just to start the questions, where would they live? Could Sasuke make a home on Suna? He had no security clearance—this apartment would be forbidden to him. In time, would his chakra inability wear on him, or could they work out their own ways of communicating? They might, for Sasuke was strong, intelligent...

Thinking of Otogakure and the Sage, abruptly Naruto found another Jounin face in his mind's eye. _Roushi_, he reminded himself. _Jiraya should know that Roushi Younbi has begun openly abusing his skills and must be dealt with_.

While addressing his reply, his mind shifted against his will— as it often did— back to the boy who more than likely was still in the gym downstairs.

Sasuke was tantalizing, brilliant. Naruto's passion erupted like a supernova at the boy's touch; the memory of it remained like an echo in the back of his head these past few days. The pleasing thoughts kept him satiated for the most part, but in times like these, when he was calm and alone, the memories plagued him, like a wicked tease. Naruto's abilities allowed him to access his own recollections and replay them with such stunning clarity that even now he felt the sensations of Sasuke's nervous, quivering fingers fisting in his hair, pulling at his clothes.

Naruto's eyes glazed over, turned into unseeing blue orbs as he imagined the sensations, the feelings Sasuke unknowingly conjured within Naruto's once carefully guarded heart. Physically, the boy was… intoxicating. Soft in respect to the blue civilian clothing he'd dawned that day and warm from Suna's brilliant sunlight, but also solid, hinting at long hours of training and physical conditioning. Indeed In that very moment, Naruto could yet feel the warm lips cover his, tasting of fresh water and okashi. Every inch he'd felt of Sasuke muscled and toned, his arms had been like vices about Naruto's neck and in his hair; his legs, like ship's cable, had been heavy and teemed with electricity, the touch of his thighs against Naruto's sparking a unquenchable fire within the normally controlled Jounin. Likewise the ferocity with which he'd responded to Naruto's uncertain advances— the kiss he'd placed on Sasuke's temple on impulse— gave Naruto unmitigated joy and foreshadowed (Gods of Fire, he certainly _hoped _they foreshadowed) the passion that Sasuke might exhibit on future occasions. For the boy was passionate, that was certain. In either his family, his land, or his duty, he selflessly (or selfishly?) pursued his goals until they were in his grasp— or taken from him forever, Naruto thought with a wince. Of late, Sasuke had been suffering both the loss of his beloved homeland as well as recovering from the wounds inflicted from the would-be assassins and Hinata, who had betrayed him. Considering all, Naruto thought with a flush of pride, Sasuke had recently weathered what should have been a life shattering experiences but now was willing— hopefully, _hopefully_ willing— to trust again.

Naruto sighed and clutched a shivering hand to his soft gym shirt. With all his heart, he hoped Sasuke would trust him— trust him enough to open his heart to him, to perhaps repeat the special moment that had taken place in the field.

He realized now that Sasuke had broken down all his carefully erected barriers— barriers put in place to protect himself from the feelings he longed to release— and had created for himself a place in Naruto's mind forever. The experience in the fields of Suna, caught in between the rush of his own feelings and the ones he felt pulse from Sasuke's body, rushed back in a tumult of unexpressed emotions and desires. Naruto felt the ribbons of his own lust curl in the pit of his belly, lap away at his thighs like tongues of fire. Just as terrifyingly acute had been Sasuke's reactions: passionate, willing, and erotic. The purity of Sasuke's mind, the unadulterated indulgence with which his heart soared in his chest while he'd savagely kissed and moaned, was enough to make the Jounin shudder from the memory alone. At the time, overwhelmed and just as heady, Naruto had barely been able to contain himself. Such a gift Sasuke had given him: the human touch he hadn't known he'd been craving. But now that he'd procured a taste, it was difficult to hold back, especially being in the boy's presence so often— indeed not a day had passed since the field where they had not spent considerable time in each other's company. Wistfully, Naruto thought back to his academy days, to the very day when Shikamaru had met and married Temari in a flurry of epsilon energy and unmitigated desire. He felt a twinge of jealousy. How lucky Shikamaru was to have Temari, another Jounin, who had realized their connaturality in an instant and had Pair Bonded with him. Naruto— of course doing things the hard way, he thought with a little bitterness— had spent weeks thinking of the boy with romantic notions, while simultaneously _leading_ an invasion force into his home world— to his very home at the palace! Even before that, his squad (perhaps even he himself) had gunned down the only person he'd ever loved on the plains of Amegakure. How on earth was he supposed to build any lasting trust in the boy with such a track record. It seemed that everything Naruto did— including entrusting Sasuke to Hinata's care— brought the boy nothing but more pain.

_And yet he kissed me. Gods of Fire, help me, he kissed me so deeply._

The ache in his chest grew for a frightening moment before Naruto recognized that he was losing emotional control. He closed his eyes, banishing thoughts of obsidian orbs and light pink lips from his mind, and proceeded to breathe until he had calmed.

The feelings were still present, however, despite his attempts at control, but they were easier to manage now that he had taken a refreshing mental excursion inside his memories of the dark-haired boy. Anxious suddenly to return to the real thing, Naruto rose from his seated position, mailing his response to Jiraya through a small chute just outside of his door, and continued down the hall toward the lift.

His arrival back down to the gym was punctuated with his bewilderment at finding the entire training facility devoid of human life: not a soul was to be seen. Without warning, a muffled set of shouts drew Naruto's attention back to the sparring room where he had left Sasuke nearly an hour before. Now the chamber, once dotted with moderately sized sparring groups, held the entire training facility in its depths. He even spotted on-duty commanding officers amongst the heavy throng, watching the fights in interest. Or the _fight_, as it was now. Even more unusual was the lack of multiple contests. Only one fight, stationed directly in the middle of the sparring facility, waged on.

"That kid is incredible!" one of the men beside him crowed over the din of the crowd.

"No one's gonna beat him!"

Suddenly taking interest, Naruto pushed past the clustered horde until he finally could see above a few heads to the combatants in particular.

One of them Naruto recognized as Yoroi Akado, a burly tan-skinned man who was famous for his skills in the sparring ring. He was naked save for a black pair of gym pants that hung loosely about his hips; even his shoes had been removed. Brutal and remorseless, there were times when Yoroi would beat his opponents half to death before a towel was thrown, the match over. Now he stood panting, blood running from a swollen nose as well as a split lip. He roared in fury, the rage pooling off him and hitting Naruto like a pulse. His adversary, cool and collected on the other side of the ring, stood easily, not a scratch on him. Pale hands were extended and patiently waited for the attack that was sure to come. Shirtless like Yoroi, the man's sweat glistened in the sparse lighting off white skin, as quick, sure-footed legs kept pace with the other man's shifting position. He was young, his oval face framed by drooping ebony locks. Dark, controlled eyes focused on his opponent, and a quivering ball of sweat fell from his bangs down to an exposed chest muscle.

Naruto nearly choked when he realized it was Sasuke.

The boy somehow had transformed into a creature Naruto had never seen before: a warrior. Standing taller than Naruto had ever seen him, pride—even arrogance— flowed from him like an excited ripple of white energy. Surprised as he was, Naruto didn't miss the flutter of excitement in his own chest, and like the others, he stared and watched the boy take on the man nearly twice his size. Enraptured with the silken movements, Naruto's eyes drank in every tawny muscle, covered in sweat, and every lock of hair as it danced and flickered about the tensed neck.

Despite having had the boy under access— having seen every substantial memory the boy possessed— Naruto was surprised, even baffled, by the change in him. Even worse, he was concerned with his reaction, which almost began to manifest itself physically— and would have— if the powerful Jounin did not use chakra to keep himself in check. Sasuke was beautiful, confident in his physical prowess, and deadly, and Naruto found himself sweltering under the sheer power that surrounded him like a cloud, hopelessly and entirely _aroused._

Without warning, Yoroi lunged across the expanse, hands reaching out while massive legs carried him down upon Sasuke. Under such a hulking figure, Sasuke would surely be crushed! Naruto's throat caught in sudden fear, his heart thudding in his chest. But a roar-like shout echoed across the pandemonium of the crowd, and Naruto had to think a moment before realizing it had come from Sasuke. The boy twisted violently in the clutches of his adversary, unharmed, and with the swift motion of clever hands, he flipped Yoroi around like a limp doll, pinning the man between clenched knees in a maneuver that Naruto could hardly register with his eyes alone. The boy's speed was unnaturally fast.

Yoroi's wilted body did not stir from his downed position as a call from one of the referees signaled the fight was over. As the crowd roared with Sasuke's victory, Naruto attempted to move to the front; but to no avail. There was as much pushing and shoving in the commotion as a full-scale battle, and only when another match began could Naruto gain enough space to move. Spotting Kiba near the corner of the ring, he made for his friend.

"Naruto!" the man shouted, nostrils flaring with his elation. "There you are! Look at the kid! He's amazing!"

"Kiba!" Naruto yelled back, casting nervous glances to the boy, who was yet again positioned on the opposite side of the ring and facing another, even larger, opponent. Naruto shoved another enthused officer aside and stopped before Kiba, who howled like a wolf at the signal for the next match to begin. "He shouldn't be fighting, Kiba," Naruto continued. "You know he was shot a few days ago, right?"

Kiba shrugged, tilting his head back toward the ring. "Can't really tell, can you?"

The blonde Jounin bit back a fierce retort as he saw Sasuke again, taking on another soldier even larger than Yoroi but considerably slower. In less than thirty seconds, Sasuke had him felled with several, impossibly fast jabs, and finished with two balled fists coming down on the man's ears. Like a cruiser suddenly ripped from its navigational unit, the towering combatant fell in a heap to the padded floor.

Kiba laughed aloud as the rest of the onlookers positively bellowed in response to the quick ending. "That's the fourth Colonel he's taken down!" he shouted into Naruto's ear. Then a wicked smile burned into his lips, causing creases to form around his eyes and forehead. "How do you think he'll do against a General, Uzumaki?"

Naruto paused and then glanced back to the boy. Sasuke was elated, trotting about the ring as energy and life flooded his system. Bouncing with an intense emotion that Naruto could feel almost as well as the shouts of the crowd, he cracked his neck and grinned in savage delight, awaiting the next to challenge him. Pride welled inside Sasuke, pride that Naruto feared had been taken by Otogakure's shame on Ame, yet somehow it had survived, blossoming on the boy's face like a light. Sasuke in his full glory, sweaty and victorious amongst the shouts of Federate soldiers, revitalized Naruto's previous (and vexing) physical response, and he bit his lower lip while generously circulating more calming chakra into his body. Though the temptation to engage the boy, now solidified with an added waggle of Kiba's eyebrow, grew to be too much. He sighed— he told himself it was a sigh— and was already removing his shirt as Kiba cheered beside him.

-oOo-

Sasuke's joy was unmitigated. The feel of moving his body again, of felling opponent after opponent in quick, decisive moves, of being _alive _pulsed like fire through his veins. Somehow, despite his long interval of scarcely any physical activity, he was faster than ever, stronger than he remembered being, and smarter than he remembered thinking in battle. He'd fought nearly anyone willing back at the Academy on Otogakure, winning more than losing, though not with any consistency that made him stand out from the rest of the recruits, but now there was something uncanny that he recognized in his own speed. Somehow he could predict instinctually the movements of his adversaries, following his own intuition into sometimes compromising situations but emerging unscathed nevertheless. Perhaps if Sasuke had been in a more contemplative mood, he would have attempted to ascertain the origin of such strange abilities, but fighting felt too good after too long being dormant.

As a Missling, there had been times when fighting normal Academy students, the true heirs, had been painful. Distracted by jealousy of his opponent, he would at times slip up, forget the battle, and in the end his opponent would live. But he had loathed with his entire being how they, the true heirs, had possessed the _right_ to live while Sasuke had not, how they had the love of their family while Sasuke's family had been buried years before on the palace grounds. This jealousy, coupled with the returned feelings of loss and helplessness in the face of his family's demise, would confuse Sasuke's normally acute attention, and his opponent would land the lucky blow, felling him before he could recover.

But now Sasuke felt free, more free than he could ever remember being, in his anonymity. None of these men knew what he was: a prince of Otogakure, the planet causing all the fuss in the surrounding systems. Likewise his previous opponents hadn't known that his class, the Missling class, was considered to be less than human at times. Even Kiba, who knew him better than the majority, didn't know of his family's history, of Itachi's suicide— information every citizen Otogakure (therefore every person Sasuke had ever known before his capture) was privy to.

They only knew him from what he was _right there_, him as a person, as a fighter. A damn _good_ fighter, if he judged every fight he'd won as a reference point. He could feel their admiration and respect like a burning, uncanny sensation in his chest.

The mass's roars suddenly dwindled, alerting Sasuke to the shift he felt in the air in the next moment. Then he saw Naruto as he walked calmly to the other end of the ring.

Sasuke's heart leapt in his chest at the unexpected sight, and for some reason the first thing that his abruptly fevered mind latched onto was the fact that _the_ Naruto Uzumaki with his 99 percent Senju ranking was somehow _half naked_ before him, dressed only in the pair of training pants he'd been wearing as they'd worked out in the gym that morning. Then in the next moment, he tried to ascertain why he was so worked up about it.

Sasuke certainly was familiar with the male body— with his own body naturally— and had seen it nude, be it fully of half, too many times to count in his military service. Surely not minutes before, he'd faced a stranger who'd been similarly garbed as Naruto— shirtless and sweating in the overhead halogen lights.

Though somehow, the notion that it was _Naruto—_ that the uncovered body before him was the body he'd gripped desperately not a few days ago in the Suna fields— turned the dull, boring (there had been nothing noteworthy that Sasuke had previously found in it) male body into some sort of fascinating _thing_ that begged exploration.

The skin, firstly— the color was mesmerizing, a honey-dipped brown that shifted ruddy in the cracks and curves of the arms, beneath the pectorals, along the neck. It hinted at long hours spent in the sun, clothed (or perhaps unclothed) in similar fashion. Without his permission, an intoxicating image of Naruto stretched and half naked on the white shores of Oto's southern coastline, where Sasuke had spent his summers as a child, sprang into his muddled mind like a whisper and refused to budge as he looked Naruto up and down.

Next the muscles in the Jounin's chest rippled as he walked, tight abs contracting as he inhaled through his nose, then flickering as he exhaled through his mouth. Those muscles fueled his powerful, though graceful, movements, which hinted at long hours of harsh training, as did the light scars on his fingers that Sasuke could barely detect in the sparse light. But he'd spent a great deal of time on the Suna plains studying those palms, the feel and taste of them, as they'd caressed his body and held him in their powerful embrace. Sasuke the line of the hand upward through the arm until it met one particularly entrancing curve of muscle, beginning at the base of his collarbone and traveling up in an arc across Naruto's flexing neck until it hid away at the bottom of his chin. Also sun-kissed, the face was a sight Sasuke was most familiar with, but upon seeing him in this shocking new light, the Otogakure prince found his heart fluttering like a bird's wings when confronted with the strong visage. The jawline was strong, wider than an Uchiha's, just like his hands, and curved upward till it met that shock of blonde hair dancing atop his head. Those bleached locks had felt like silk under his fingers, Sasuke remembered with a flush, surprisingly soft despite their ability to stand on end of their own volition.

Then came the eyes— eyes so brilliant that Sasuke felt he might lose himself in their entrancing glow. They looked darker now, an unsettling shade of aquamarine instead of baby blue, and they were fastened onto him so directly that he knew they must be seeing right through him, into his very soul. Naked but unabashedly so, Sasuke had to meet those eyes, had to float on the bubble of wonder and strange feelings that they effortlessly elicited. There would be no hiding, even if he did break eye contact, and for a maddening (for Sasuke believed himself to be going insane under such a gaze) moment, he didn't want to look away. There was such depth to those eyes. They appeared almost filled to the brim with knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and emotion that Sasuke would be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the universe. He remembered when he'd felt the feathering of Naruto's approval resonate within him, how the Jounin's consciousness had stoked him into a raw, emotional state that left him wanting to shout aloud for joy— but he also remembered his discovery of how much of himself Naruto was holding back. Now it was that same sensation all over again: the strange realization that before him stood a man as overwhelming as the universe.

Said man, with a smirk and the gesture of an outstretched hand, spoke without words his intention behind getting up on the mat.

_He wants to fight?_ Sasuke thought incredulously.

But the predatory light in those baby blues said it all.

A shock of fear shook him for a moment, but it soon gave way to a shaking thrill of anticipation so potent he could have physically trembled under it._ Then he'll get one._

Awed suddenly with his own bravery, Sasuke once again felt the thrill of control, of power. His confidence, he realized, was retuning with a vengeance. Yet, he remembered with a bit of doubt, this was the man who could catch Sasuke in a tumbling free fall from a thousand meters in the air!

Yet still, the only nervousness he found himself experiencing was the customary, jittery emotions he always felt in close proximity with Naruto. Now was the time to act fully on impulse— he held no fear in his heart, no nervousness, and best of all, no distracting jealousy to cloud his mind with heavy, black emotions. With such a man before him— the same man who not days ago said he'd _wanted_ him in the most intimate of ways— Sasuke was nearly shaking with anticipation.

Kiba's voice, rising over the crowd's murmurs, announced what everyone had already expected: General Naruto Uzumaki wanted a shot at the unknown kid who was kicking everyone's asses— such were Kiba's words.

The room stilled into an unnatural quiet as Naruto approached Sasuke, hand extended for the pre-fight shake. When skin met skin— a strange mixing of ruddy tan with silken white— a subconscious flare shot up Sasuke's arm and into his already booming chest, and he knew Naruto had done that on purpose. Perhaps to throw him off his emotional balance.

No, he realized as he looked at the wide grin on the handsome face, it was Naruto's own excitement he was feeling, not some Jounin trick to distract him. Perhaps it was a blessing, Sasuke reflected, for Naruto was showing his own anticipation for their altercation. Kiba signaled for both of them to return to opposite sides of the mat, and the contact was broken a second later.

Now Sasuke really was shaking.

Kiba, just as eager as the rest of the bystanders, finally called the match to begin with a loud voice and the drop of a hand; but neither combatant moved a centimeter. Sasuke would wait, no matter how impatient he was to begin. Naruto was the superior fighter— that he knew without a doubt. Yet he was undeterred in the slightest. In fact, Sasuke's muscles burned, aching to lunge, but he forced himself to remain as still as possible.

And then he commanded himself not to feel at all. He locked down, holding a tight emotional control that kept his reactions as bland as a dried biscuit, hoping that if he kept himself reigned in enough, his emotional response wouldn't give Naruto any unnecessary leads over him. Underneath it he could sense Naruto's bubbling excitement from across the ring, rippling like a stone tossed in water. Only when he felt Naruto's exhilaration boil to a head did he move, relying on his newfound clairvoyant abilities to guide his hands and feet. Naruto struck with a twisting blow, obviously not holding back a centimeter, and Sasuke parried it away from his body with another strike to the wrist. Hot and heavier than iron, Naruto's hands stung Sasuke's upon impact.

And the Jounin was fast! Unbelievably so. Sasuke couldn't rely on thought at all and had to move to pure instinct. How he was able to do so escaped him. He deflected another two jabs, curving his back around the third at the last possible second, his mind whirring away at possible strategies.

But the crush of a fist against his lower back in the next moment distracted him from thinking at all. Gasping and twisting as best he could with the massive impact, Sasuke expected to hear the crunch of bones as his feet slid clumsily across the slick mat. With misting eyes, he fisted his right hand and rocked his elbow back with as much force as he could manage. The sickly smash of fleshy resistance was so satisfying that it almost, _almost_ lessened the pain radiating from his spine.

Naruto grunted in agony, flexing long legs, and sprang backward. Sasuke kept up the attack only to drive the bigger Jounin farther back but retreated to his own corner when he noted Naruto holding an already red and swollen jawline in an unsteady palm.

Perhaps had he allowed himself to think, Sasuke might have attempted to consider his own feelings about wounding a man whom he'd come to care for— in his subconscious he knew at least that much to be true— but with his heart pounding with such a raucous beat, thinking didn't seem to transpire as it normally would. But if he could think, he would have reveled in the fact that Naruto respected him enough to not hold back a bit in this match. Sasuke was no woman. He didn't associate physical blows with any adversity the Jounin might have for him. He knew already: Naruto wanted him. Naruto respected him, even enough to challenge him with as much sincerity— and aggression— as he was exhibiting now. Sasuke needed no coddling, no pretty words or gentle caresses, though Naruto had already given them.

But this match wasn't some idle sparring session to entertain the masses— though they positively shrieked in joyous rancor. This match was about respectability. And equality.

Sasuke found that he could prove that he could stand on somewhat equal ground with the Jounin Hokage. Suddenly he wanted it more than he wanted anything.

Dropping and swinging his body beneath Naruto's next outstretched attack, Sasuke kicked low and unexpectedly snagged Naruto's burly legs with his own. But the Jounin was not to be so easily outmatched. With a decisive roar, the larger man swung his own body around, using the unnatural powers a Jounin possessed, and nearly kicked Sasuke's head from his shoulders. Only the lucky sudden snap back of his neck, which sent his head down just centimeters below the blow, allowed him to escape a sure loss. Sasuke used his own momentum to his advantage, bounding backward in a series of handsprings to escape the three or so more strikes Naruto attempted.

Perched out of the man's range for now, Sasuke felt inevitability settle in his mind. He was most likely going to find himself on the receiving end of those huge blows, and they were going to _hurt. _

The earsplitting _whoosh _of Naruto's loose-fitting pants rang out as the Jounin arched his right leg around his body and flashed it forward in a move so fast it defied comprehension. Twisting with dread, Sasuke heard more than felt the impact on his skin, tossing him like a ragdoll by his head into the mat below. Sasuke rolled quickly on the ground, narrowly avoiding a heavy axe-kick that could have shattered his body had it made contact. The warmth that always followed an impact to his nose pooled down his lip and off his speckled jaw. Gasping with the delayed sting, Sasuke reached for his opponent with kicking legs, but Naruto had successfully stepped out of his range before a real attack could be made.

Remaining composed despite the pain, Sasuke flipped his body upward in the quick, rolling motion of his spine and legs, planting firm feet on the mat. Naruto moved again, but this time Sasuke saw him coming at least. The air just before the tip of his nose was split impossibly by the burly fist. Blinking against the rush of wind stirred up by the attack, he stumbled backward, almost into another blow that he narrowly avoided.

The only cognitive assertion he could come up with at that point was, _This isn't working_. Immediately, he switched up tactics, loosening his muscles around another focused kick. Just as he managed to master enough momentum to fling his body toward the center of their miniature battlefield, another heart-stopping blow neared Sasuke's unprotected jaw, a blow that would surely fell him. Teeth bared, he determinately wove his upper body to the left. The hand flashed just above his shoulder, but he didn't allow himself to so much as breathe before ducking hard.

Ears tuned for the telltale whoosh of splitting air, Sasuke spun, eyes on alert. The other hand appeared just above his bowed head. With three parts ingrained experience and seven parts sheer intuition, Sasuke's hand flew out above him, grasping the length of the tanned appendage with all the strength he could muster in his aching arms. Sasuke tightened his grip until his body rocked into a mighty tug, in which he flung Naruto's much heavier form clear over his own head and down onto the hardened concrete about half meter just outside the padded mat. Springing finally at his one and only chance, Sasuke grappled Naruto from behind and into an Academy-trained chokehold, fitting his hands across the massive chest up to the neck. Naruto's face began to redden with the lack of oxygen, and the Jounin spun quickly in an attempt to loosen Sasuke's clamp-like arms. The boy wrestled for dear life on Naruto's neck, despite losing his grasp on Naruto's legs. He was flipped above the blonde man, straddling his hips with teeth bared and black eyes flashing. Naruto's ocean blue eyes had snapped to an intense cobalt in all the excitement, and without warning Sasuke felt the unmistakable sensation of arousal flood through his veins like a frigate on a collision course. It spread like a fire up from his toes all the way through the extended tips of his hair, and before he could stop himself, a low moan had escaped his lips. Naruto's eyes widened a fraction in response.

Stunned by his sudden reaction, Sasuke's grip slackened, and Naruto sprung. Their positions instantly reversed: Sasuke pinned under the hardened muscles of Naruto's chest and legs, two elbows locked over his throat. Before he could register the sudden pain of being flipped and dominated, it was over. His vision darkened to near unconsciousness when suddenly the grip on his throat loosened completely. Sasuke coughed as he forced oxygen into his starved lungs and staggered woozily as rough, praising arms brought him to his feet. Around him, he dimly heard the unabashed roars of the crowd. Words were being spoken to him, he knew, but he couldn't piece them together to form a cognitive response. They offered condolences and congratulations in the same breath. Sasuke soon registered the words "best fight I've ever seen against a Jounin" that Kiba said to his right.

But he could feel Naruto's presence like a shadow in the corner, more than likely well aware of Sasuke's sudden change of emotions. Embarrassed but likewise helpless, Sasuke couldn't bear to look even in his direction and flushed, what he thought, must have been every shade of red in the spectrum. Shrugging quickly into a towel that Kiba placed with a slap on his shoulder, he winced at the contact.

Every tendril of muscle, bone, and hair was completely on fire, and for the first time in his life, Sasuke Uchiha, Third Prince and Missling heir to Otogakure's throne, experienced the overwhelming sensation of passionate, sweltering _arousal. _

**Here's a secret… fun things will happen in the next chapter. **

**And since I'm wicked, I'll get it to you in exchange for reviews. You'll oblige me, won't you, loves?**


	17. Chapter 16

**Citrus is a complicated fruit (if you catch my meaning) full of nuances and possibilities, thereby making it probably the most complex of the scenes to write— at least for myself. When I write other scenes, I have a set goal in mind, a series of questions to answer or to possibly create depending on how far along I am in events in relation to the plot. Citrus scenes are infinitely more complex, for my love scenes don't necessarily add to plot. They rather focus on intimacy of the characters between each other and with themselves (for indeed what is more personal than sex?). However, since my writing style is mostly plot driven (for indeed the blueprint I'm following is already more or less set in stone) I find that developing a relationship through intercourse (or even foreplay) is so much more complex because there is a delicate balance I'm attempting to make: between (in this case because it's Sasuke and Naruto) submission and dominance, and then between introversion and extroversion— that is the description of **_**what **_**is happening verses what the character is thinking **_**while**_** it happens, and then between how pornographic I want it to be verses how erotic I want it to be (of course there's a difference between the two!), and then on top of that I have to make sure that what the characters are doing and thinking coincide to who they are as people. **

**So those are my reasons for the delay in the chapter, which I sincerely apologize for, and then I must apologize again, for I fear that the explanation is way to fucking long, and you just want to READ the stupid thing. **

**Please enjoy!**

**Chapter 16**

Sasuke stormed into the gym's showering booths, ripping off the white, though blood-speckled towel as if it were on fire. But it was his skin, he realized with painfully gritted teeth, that was burning. Loose gym pants clung limply to his waist; he kept them on as he flicked a nearby knob onto cold and pushed the overhead buttons to activate the water flow. The freezing current bounced off his fried nerves, but Sasuke felt no reprieve from the boiling in his veins.

Hinata's words, spoken weeks ago in an attempt to terrify Sasuke, now rang in his head as breathy and teasing as sweet-nothings. _"A man with Jounin training will have found ways to please their lover without ever touching them, just as you guessed: ways that will leave them changed, unable to forget or go back."_

The inherent truth in those words had Sasuke shivering in the cold of the water, still feeling the physical affects of Naruto's striking blue eyes in the midst of the fight. The arousal— a burning thriving _thing_ at the pit of Sasuke's contracting stomach— had come on like a sudden, unexplainable rush, foreign and strange. Where before he'd felt the serenity of a clear, level-headed mind, now he only felt the tumult of unsatisfied desires. His legs shook with it, his arms burned at his sides, his head throbbed from the temples and branched down his still aching jaws (for Naruto had not been gentle in their spar) and even now his chest contracted with the painful, nervous-like feeling he'd thought he'd been able to amply quell. Despite his best efforts, it roared past the barriers of his control like an animal finally set free, an animal who wasn't eager to be caged again.

In an attempt to calm himself, Sasuke thought of the physical aspect of his arousal, now painfully extending most expressively through the crotch of Sasuke's pants, wasn't as much a surprise—especially after so grueling an exercise (such things were to be expected with a young man's blood rushing about during a duel), yet how was he supposed to deny the unmistakable, fiery pounding in his chest? Even now as he attempted to respectfully suppress the feeling with the frigid water, he could think of nothing but the hot, tanned skin of Naruto's chest— taught with the exertion and thrumming with the distinctive cadence of his heartbeat— beneath Sasuke's thighs. Then he thought treasonously of the heaving chest, slicked over with the sweat of their exertions and accentuated by slight scars and dusky nipples— the way Naruto's sun-kissed locks felt as they occasionally brushed his arms— and naturally those eyes that had locked decisively with his just before the arousal struck him like a mallet.

Sasuke groaned, and unconsciously, a shaky hand descended to the tented region of his trousers. An immediate, relieving bout of pleasure made his head spin backwards in time. Pinned beneath him, Naruto had cast a very… tempting figure, especially when in the back of Sasuke's mind, he knew of Naruto's superior stature and standing; but Sasuke had forced _him_ to submit, if only for those brief seconds. And such a tantalizing image, him above and in power of the Federacy's strongest soldier, poached his blood like oil over fire and made his head dizzy. Losing balance, he placed a hand against the cool, white-tiled wall, and soon his head followed the motion. An unexpected rush of pleasure shot strait from the irritated region he thought he'd been dutifully ignoring, yet with a hurried glance down, he realized that his hand had somehow escaped his noticed and was now fisting the erection beneath his trousers. Stunned, he released himself with a hiss and nearly collapsed under the wave of heat gushing from his nether regions. 'How could a grown man be so _sensitive_?' he thought, a broken groan escaping him, which he attempted to stifle by pressing his face to the wall.

Against his will, Sasuke's fevered mind spun back to the reason for the reaction… For a brief instant, Naruto had appeared to be Sasuke's _inferior_, in the fight if in nothing else. Unquestioning stimulation had been the immediate result, which Sasuke, humiliated and vexed by his own weakness, was now determined to wash away with the frigid current of the water. _Only I could be so effected by a showcase of my own power_, he thought miserably. Surely if Orochimaru ever discovered the key to Sasuke's arousal (Gods of Fire, forbid it!) he'd have a good laugh and proclaim that Sasuke was _surprisingly _Uchiha still.

These thoughts should have sobered him enough, but though long seconds passed, nothing changed. The frozen stream striking his back like ice shards might as well have been Naruto's own muscled, hot hands, for Sasuke was simply _burning_. The mutinous thought— to touch himself— flickered in and out of his brain like diffusing halogen orb, and he barely reigned in enough self control to resist the urge. He'd heard of such unexplainable bouts of arousal from other male Misslings, and with disgust he'd listened of how they'd… taken care of themselves. Though such conversation he'd immediately deemed inappropriate, and naturally as a prince he dismissed their anecdotes as folly, even farce. Back then, he had never imagined he'd ever lose control over his facilities so completely. Certainly nothing of this magnitude had occurred to the young prince before, and here he bitterly blamed Naruto and the long dormant feelings of affection the Jounin awakened over the past few weeks.

That kiss on the Suna fields... The most intensive contact Sasuke had ever experienced with another human being in his entire life. No profession of love from Sakura or tender moments with his brother could ever compare to such all encompassing feelings, coupled, naturally, with a bout of _unguarded_ behavior exhibited by himself. Never had he clung with all his might to another being, lost in the feel of a hot, eager tongue and a firm body.

Naruto's body…

Another blush forcibly stole over Sasuke's buried face, and in mortification he nearly beat himself with a clenched fist.

Shamefully, though helplessly, he thought back to the Jounin's expression, right as Sasuke had gained the upper hand. Surprise, he remembered seeing in those blue orbs, before they switched into a violently darker color, throwing Sasuke completely off and flooding him with the… _mistake_, he reminded himself. He blushed again and felt his cheeks wash a deep crimson. Surely Naruto had felt the change in him, and if the Jounin been able to read his sudden desire… What Naruto must think of him!

He groaned once more, though now for a completely different reason. Sasuke's youth, coupled with his pitiful lack of real-world experience, had often been thrown into his face as a weakness— by Orochimaru, by Hinata, even by Sakura, who'd often kindly reminded him of how much he'd needed to learn— but he'd never felt the utter truth behind their words until that moment. To have such childlike and blatant lack of control over his body was positively humiliating. Even now the result of his physical awakening still rebelliously sprang out from his tented pants, an unexpected and unfamiliar sight.

Misslings weren't supposed to acknowledge arousal. They were strictly forbidden from all physical intimacy, including even the chastest of kisses from the opposite sex. Those Misslings who could not help themselves—either by the passions of legitimate love or the fleeting hungers of a single encounter— were brought to swift justice. All illegitimate pregnancies were aborted upon discovery, and both parents were made firm examples of. And the Misslings who had been caught engaging in _debauchery _with others of the same sex—

Sasuke shuddered and this time not from heady pleasure.

The disgrace over discovery of such a connection could never be outlived, not if the family survived a hundred thousand years. Their reputation would forever be blotted with the sins of the _sodomites_. But Sasuke technically was no longer a citizen of Otogakure… And despite his best attempts at resistance, he couldn't help but acknowledge himself as he was _now, _smoldering and (he looked down again) _rigid_...

But he'd known kindness from Naruto that Oto had never shown him, even on the brightest of days. Though could he possibly feel _that _much for the strange, Jounin _man_? And if he did, what was to become of him? Of them? Naruto was a Federate General, while Sasuke was the _literally_ the crown royalty of enemy forces. Beyond that, Sasuke could foresee complications between himself and the Jounin kindred. Hinata despised him out of jealousy. How many others would he incense by taking their brightest star for himself. Then there was the actual concept of _taking _Naruto. Or rather being taken…

His face flushed a deep purple of sheer embarrassment, and here he did strike himself. Ludicrous thoughts! Why on earth was he having them now?

But hadn't Naruto said it himself? Talked of actually marrying Sasuke? No, that wasn't what the Jounin called it.

_Pair Bonding…_

Sasuke shuddered in horror, and the thought that he was legitimately frightened of something other than his own demise struck him suddenly. He'd never before felt such unrestrained fear, coupled with untapped passion and weighty shame. All were too many emotions for a normally clamped-up young man. Pressing his forehead deeper into the cool tiles of the booth's wall, he bit his lower lip and refused to delve any deeper into the complex emotional consequences of his body's reaction until he figured out _what_ on earth he was going to do to _get rid_ of the atrocity enflaming his entire body. Reasonably, he thought that the freezing water would have some effect, especially after such prolonged exposure, (he was sure he'd been standing there for nearly fifteen minutes now) but if anything his hurried thoughts had stoked the fire within him rather than dousing it. The other Missling boys, he thought hazily, had described… He winced, screwed his eyes shut, and lowered a shaky hand to the region once more. Upon contact, a wonderful yet simultaneously terrifying sensation sprang from the area and flashed all the way up his stomach to his reddening face. He would have howled in surprise had he not shoved a hand over his mouth to quell it. Now fisting the tented member, he shook with the exertion, sweated, panted, stilled. Another tremor passed through him and gave his clutching hand a little friction, which instilled a still greater thrill of responsiveness through his body.

"_Gods of Fire_,_"_ he rasped, hardly recognizing his own voice, now low and gravelly in his own ears. Shamefully (his face could have glowed, it was so red) he adjusted his grip on the lengthened shaft, feeling for the first time his own shape and heat, though both were slightly muted by the cloth of his gym pants, and pulled slowly down, then up again to settle on the most sensitive part at the tip. He uttered another curse, roiling in the pleasure, as both his mind and body were abruptly lost to him. Through a haze, he saw Naruto in his mind's eye, half-naked and glistening with sweat, below him,_ pinned_ submissively beneath his quivering legs, all muscle, all sun-kissed and glowing, with those maddening eyes locked onto his with enough ferocious lust to engulf Sasuke whole.

The rushing hiss of the stream nearly drowned out the sound of the restroom door sliding open, but Sasuke caught it with strained ears. Startled, he released himself with a jerk, embarrassed as ever and two seconds away from beating his own head in. Hesitatingly, he stood on his tiptoes, black eyes barely clearing the line of stalls to see a blonde head bob toward him. There could be no doubt to who it was. Cursing in fierce whispers, Sasuke punched the silver button that stopped all water flow, noted with a downward glance that he was _still_ caught in piquant desire, and scrambled to gather his towel in order to navigate a quick escape.

But he hadn't even had the time to draw the white cloth before Naruto was suddenly upon him. Dripping and suddenly freezing, Sasuke's eyes widened as he beheld the massive Jounin. Naruto stood tall and imposing in the stall doorway, his considerable shoulders blocking any escape routes like a sealed wall; but Naruto, Sasuke suddenly realized, was panting. Red-faced, the Jounin blinked at him with eyes that were intolerably vivid against his ruddy complexion, and he fisted a palm and knocked it silently against the shower wall.

"I have to apologize," he panted at last. All parts of him heaved as if he'd run a hundred kilometers. "_Again_, I have encroached upon your emotional sovereignty; I've infected you with my…" He clenched his teeth, as if biting back the worst sort of insult toward himself. "I'm sorry," he finished, and looked to Sasuke, penitent.

Realization dawned as the boy truly scrutinized the massive man. Breathing as heavily as Sasuke was and boiling hot if the red stretching down to his neck said anything, Naruto could have been mistaken with a man half driven from sanity. His large, ruddy hands were clenched into fists at his sides; the flexing muscles rippled up his tanned arms and settled at his chest. With every heave of breath, his clenched abs flickered between defined and relaxed, while those powerful legs nearly shook under the exertion. Sasuke dragged his eyes up the figure, helplessly consumed with it, and settled soon on the tanned face. Also sun-kissed, the blonde hair and rich blue eyes once again leapt out at Sasuke from a darker face, so enrapturing that he couldn't possibly look away, not for all the honor and self control in the universe. Naruto equally stared at him, started for a moment, but seemed to regain himself through a great effort. The boy's eyes were attracted by the motion and unconsciously flickered to the center of Naruto's trousers, where an _unmistakable_ bulge protruded fiercely.

"_Gods of Fire_," Sasuke breathed as he stumbled backward, almost overcome, his eyes widening.

"I know." Naruto looked torn but made no move to turn away. "Listen, Sasuke, I can't express—"

His continued words fell of deaf ears. Sasuke didn't hear another syllable under the pounding of his heart. The sudden arousal had not been his own, then. Naruto, at having been pinned by Sasuke's quick move, had flown into the state of desire, so potent that perhaps it hadn't been able to stay inside the Jounin's mind. Sasuke even ventured to think, for the briefest of moments, that their heads were already so connected by Naruto's powerful chakra that he had felt it and mistaken it to be his own. However, to Sasuke now, that precipitous insight only meant one thing:

_Naruto wanted him just as badly. _

The Jounin raised clear blue eyes to Sasuke's after a long moment— they were contrite, despondent. Sasuke's thoughts, though similarly engaged in humiliation at his own reaction not seconds ago, couldn't have been more reversed. The apology, made to inform Sasuke of the Jounin's mistake, and the arousal, more than likely shown to instill some sort of fear or disgust within him, had the opposite effect than what had been intended. Sasuke was far from appeased by the explanation, though he couldn't be farther from anger. All tension within him, all shame and degradation, fled in an instant as he drank in the very sight of _Naruto_ who_ wanted_ him, and he was almost overthrown with intense curiosity and a desire of his own.

In an instant, Naruto started, astonished.

The boy had no idea what expression he was wearing, but it must have been something astounding for the Naruto's reaction to be so severe. In another second, the man practically flinched, as if another wave of whatever Sasuke was feeling struck him. He took a full pace backward, placing a hand on the opposite wall for balance. "Don't look at me like that." The words came out in pained little gasps, though his blue eyes soon flashed in a predatory light, as if he were some sort of feral beast in search of a meal.

_Fascinating…_

Sasuke couldn't respond, though, his mouth dry, hands clenched. His frigid skin bubbled over jittery muscles, and he felt the distinct urge to shake take him on. He burned to move but his scrambled thoughts couldn't find the correct commands to give his muscles, and in lieu of moving (for they seemed loathe to do so) they began to shake. Sasuke trembled but couldn't break eye contact with the powerful Jounin. Clouded and shaken as he was, everything within him screamed to be touched, to be devoured by the animal separated from him only by the aqua membranes of Naruto's eyes.

"Don't," Naruto warned, now taking a slow step toward him. His chest muscles rippled under the strain of his restriction, one angular vein in his neck protruding. Sasuke's hands unconsciously unfurled from the tight balls they'd once been. His eyes couldn't leave the deep baby blues. "_Please_," Naruto whispered, screwing his eyes shut.

The loss of eye contact broke whatever hold they'd had over Sasuke and spurred him into action. Closing the distance between them in nothing more than a few long-paced strides, he wrapped frigid arms around the impossibly hot torso before him. Extending every bit to his full height, he pulled Naruto down and met the Jounin's lips with his own. The reaction was instant and explosive. Naruto roared breathily into his mouth, slinging Sasuke's legs into arcs around his hips in one movement and driving both of them back against the shower wall in the next. Sasuke's head snapped against the marble plates, one of his now loose arms flinging above his head and striking the water nozzle. Cold water rained down on them from above, drenching Naruto's gray gym pants and white training shirt into transparent bits of cloth clinging to a fleshed-out chest and thighs.

Sasuke moaned deep at the hot, swirling tongue playing with the insides of his mouth, unable to savor the sensation under the overwhelming feeling of his own desire; or was it Naruto's? He didn't dare ponder it for too long, wrapping muscled arms over the rock-hard shoulders and squeezing with all his might, a hot mouth lodged onto his. The voracious tongue of the other party dove into him in another moment, and the same shuddering heat he'd felt on the Suna fields sparked in his chest and drove him from his sane, normal self.

Heady and searching, his own hands and grasping fingers betrayed his lust as they clung mercilessly to the Jounin and fisted into the soft blonde locks. Similarly, Sasuke felt Naruto's hands knead the flesh about Sasuke's hips and buttocks in tantalizing, round motions, one hand teasing the flesh about Sasuke's chest before fleeing back downward to the hips once more. The wretchedly hot mouth, however, with its indescribable ability to keep Sasuke occupied with nothing but nips and flicks, was the most quizzical of any other appendage.

For Sasuke had never partaken in such rough, tormenting kisses before. Naruto's lips dragged over his with such terrifying ferocity that he couldn't help but respond in like kind, abandoning all pride as he selfishly sucked hard on the lips and tongue in between his on moans. He rocked his head back and forth, following Naruto's erratic movements and trying to still the Jounin with tiny nips and teeth-filled bites. Though Naruto seemed even more eager than Sasuke. Petrifyingly animalistic, he hardly spoke a word that wasn't drowned in predatory growls and moans, pulling at Sasuke's back and hair like a starved beast. In some instances, he'd pull Sasuke's hips mercilessly in line with his own before claiming the boy's mouth under his hot embrace. And Sasuke, powerless to escape and unwilling to even attempt, wilted and whimpered helplessly in the embrace, so lost in the combined pleasures and agonies of the touches that he looked as if he might burst into tears.

"Naruto, please," Sasuke finally exhaled piteously as the arousal in him suddenly doubled, and the sudden sting in his eyes did indeed threaten tears. Naruto moaned low into Sasuke's ear and sank sharp canines into the sensitive flesh between Sasuke's neck and shoulder, sucking as if some sort of antidote to their poison could be found in the alabaster skin. In combined pain and pleasure, the boy cried out and grasped the shoulders helplessly, finally realizing that it was Naruto's arousal he was feeling so acutely. It was heavier than Sasuke's, a thousand times more so, and like a wave it clouded his perceptions and prodded him to loosen all restraint.

With muted growls and words he himself did not understand, he finally found his limbs and sought to demand more. He beckoned with his mouth, rocked sluggishly with his hips, and sought for much needed attention to those sensitive areas of his body that both he and Naruto were discovering, crying out when those attentions were not given. Beneath him Naruto seemed almost as heady as himself. Effortlessly, he hoisted Sasuke higher up onto his hips when the boy began to slip down in all the fuss. The delicious friction Sasuke suddenly felt in his groin was like a shard of pleasure so intense it bordered on pain. Helplessly, he released a desperate cry, nearly undone by the delicious sensation. Naruto paused for only a moment before he dove into Sasuke's mouth once more, tasting the boy's waiting, anxious cavern. Intentionally, he thrust his hips upward in a slow, almost lazy motion, but the result was almost instantaneous. Sasuke could have burst from pleasure, and he released a deep groan into Naruto's neck, biting hard into the tanned flesh as the only means his fevered mind could think to possibly stop the torture. To be teased into insanity was unfair, though the bite became a sort of catalyst, spurning Naruto to new heights of desperation. The Jounin growled again and thrust his hips upward into Sasuke's, anxious hands rummaging over Sasuke's naked chest as if some sort of mystery was hidden under the flesh.

A series of goose-bumps and delectable sparks raced from the parts those tanned fingers touched, and Sasuke tightened the hold his legs held over the hips, forcing his mouth back over Naruto's and even becoming bold enough to slip a tongue past the creased, panting lips, for a moment, before retracting it to kiss him once more. But once drawn out, Naruto was hard-pressed to let go. With another growl, he lavished Sasuke's lips and jaw with attention, dragging his own tongue over the dusky edges, until he drew Sasuke out. Both moaning at the sensation, they equally wrapped arms about each other in an embrace so crushing that Sasuke feared he might fracture himself.

Another flare of hot energy raced through his overactive heart, and he thought for a moment he might be truly losing his mind from excessive contact with Naruto. Before his eyes, tiny tendrils of equally red and blue flames escaped Naruto's skin and flickered around Sasuke in almost loving embraces. "Naruto!" he cried out in alarm, and the Jounin abruptly stopped to notice himself. His over-excited chakra raced in a semi-translucent path up his legs where they were connected at Sasuke's hips.

For his part, Sasuke couldn't believe that he was actually seeing chakra. The strange energy that he knew lied in wait inside all Jounin souls now visibly wrapped both of them in harmless, crackling blue and orange fire, blooming like electricity on each part of their bodies that was touching, be it by chance or design.

"W-wait," Naruto panted, gently pushing Sasuke from him so he was leaning more on the wall than on the Jounin. Still hanging by the narrow waist, the Otogakure prince felt the tingles of chakra recede slowly from his thighs, bringing with it the intensified sensation of desire. It pooled back into Naruto's chest like a current and diminished with a final flickering.

Sasuke raised honey brown eyes to Naruto's brightened irises, noting the shame behind the blue that had disappointingly replaced the longing that had been there not moments before. Slowly, as if dreading the consequences of the contact, Sasuke brought his lips toward the tanned, muscled jaw, planting tiny kisses along the curving line and marveling at the contact. Such a simple gesture, a kiss, but infinitely complex with the startling array of sensations behind it. Beneath his caresses, he felt Naruto shudder and clench Sasuke's back with those massive, fiery hands with enough intensity to bruise. The boy could feel the heat growing again, the physical stimulus so poignant he groaned aloud, the sound of his voice echoing over the marble floors and walls. The constant falling water drenched the grappling pair in a frigid stream that neither appeared to notice.

The same door Naruto had used to enter the shower area suddenly slid open, and both men froze. Echoed voices carried over the tiles, punctuated by laughter and casual conversation. One of them mentioned the Jounin fight that had taken place not minutes before.

Suddenly painfully aware of his current location, situated on Naruto's hips with his legs and arms wrapped around the firm waist, Sasuke's face reddened in embarrassment. The Jounin laughed a little, though Sasuke could tell a part of him was perturbed, but nevertheless he smashed a palm above Sasuke's head, stopping the water flow. He quickly grabbed the towel— thankfully still dry on the floor just outside the stall— and wrapped it around the boy's quivering shoulders. Placing one last kiss over the hollow of Sasuke's cheek, he smiled. "I'll find us some dry clothes."

The boy nodded, unable to trust his own voice to speak.

Since the day of their fight (he had to call it such for fear of bringing up memories that would excite him beyond control and alert other Jounin), Naruto could hardly bear to part from Sasuke for more than a few hours. Indeed, the pair of them were hardly seen apart for the next few weeks. As they passed, he could slowly feel the calm settling at last over Sasuke's overwrought heart. At last the boy come to acknowledge— if nothing else— a timid trust Naruto could feel in his every action.

There were times when Sasuke would absent-mindedly speak of his home, relating stories that he'd likely not told anyone. Around him, the prince was relaxed and casual, taunting and haughty at times, though those were only in the occasions where any certain contest could be made of a situation. Anything that Sasuke excelled at more than Naruto brought the young prince excessive joy, and Naruto, unable to resist a challenge, found himself strung along in most every instance. Though, he could admit with rueful affection, it was Sasuke's innate charisma that he found himself unconsciously submitting to at times. And yes, when not pummeled into nihility by his own inhibitions and the title Missling (a status that Naruto now found himself loathing more than he'd ever truly loathed anything), Sasuke's charisma did shine through his actions and words with the distinction of the royal blood flowing through his veins. Naruto could see it most clearly when Sasuke interacted with the soldiers in the arena (which they now frequented due to popular demand), when Sasuke would rally them unconsciously to his side with nothing more than a few confident gestures. No matter the popularity of his opponent, the crowd always cheered for Sasuke's victory in the end.

In the afternoons, after a short parting for Naruto to take care of Special Operations work, they would at times take the cruiser out to the Suna fields, for Sasuke dearly loved hiking and being outside of MaxSec. Wilderness suited Sasuke, Naruto found. The boy was resourceful and eager to learn, compiling everything Naruto told him about the flora and fauna of the place and easily referencing it sometimes days after a single conversation. The intelligence, coupled with Sasuke's true desire, _need_, to learn, always gave Naruto pause, and the Jounin found himself exercising self restraint to ensure he wouldn't accost the unsuspecting prince.

The intense bathroom scenario was not repeated. Naruto had been frightened with his own reaction to the point where he kept a polite but firm distance from the boy. He was too fragile, Naruto supplied, for such intimate interactions. And Naruto, despite years of intense Chakra training, was having trouble reigning himself in around the connatural boy. All these were legitimate reasons to keep a clear distance, though at times Naruto couldn't help himself. There were brief moments, usually at the end of a long, leisurely day spent in each other's company, where Sasuke would shyly wrap him in a small embrace at his departure. Naruto would take an instant and savor the affection, calmly and timidly offered, whispering a quiet "thank you" in the boy's ear before departing.

The pang of disappointment emitting from the boy always sickened him in his heart as he shut the door behind him. Guarded and uneasy as Sasuke was, he wanted to give Naruto the affection he knew the Jounin craved, though Naruto still couldn't allow them to get that close again. Not with so much within Sasuke changing. The Prince of Otogakure was finally accepting his new lease on life, an important emotional journey that Naruto refused to complicate further by adding himself into the equation. Patience, he had to remind himself.

In time, Naruto thought surely, Sasuke would overcome his own demons take his offer of pair-bonding seriously. They were slowly, surely building a trust that Sasuke desperately craved. Naruto, for his part, did everything in his power to ensure that Sasuke could put faith into him.

But then one afternoon Naruto was forced to bring word that shattered what fragile trust he had won.

Miserable, in Sasuke's quarters near sunset as usual, Naruto addressed him formally. "Sasuke, I must tell you something that you will like as little as I do." He stood near the door, in uniform, which had been a rare occurrence since his term on leave. He kept his distress out of his face and voice.

"Very well," Sasuke said with some uncertainty. He was also standing beside the small table near the anteroom; now he unconsciously leaned on it for support. "Tell me."

Stepping forward Naruto said, "You have a day," then halted. He started again. "Two ambassadors arrived yesterday from Otogakure, requesting that you be transferred to their custody."

The face did not change expression, though it paled considerably. "They can't do that. There's an entire week left on my asylum."

"They timed this deliberately. The Council..." Anger lines gathered on Naruto's forehead. "They mean to put you on trial."

"To send me back?" He paused for a long moment, face growing grim and cold. Naruto could feel the normally comforting wealth of emotion within Sasuke still, like a heartbeat in freezing temperatures. "Would they do that?"

"I don't know. The Council has granted them a special hearing tomorrow night. I won't be able to use my abilities to help you, as badly as I would like to. I must allow events to take their natural course. That is our law. Hinata will be there, as well."

His face pale and cold suddenly, the boy did not respond verbally, communicating his understanding with a silent nod. He did not say his customary goodbyes nor offer to the customary embrace as Naruto departed. With a heavy heart the Jounin General returned to his quarters for a sleepless night in his own bed.

The following evening, Sasuke's door slid away on schedule to reveal a pair of Security I guards in flawless white. The prince took a deep breath to calm himself and then stepped out between them.

He treaded with them from the security lift into the same council chamber he'd visited before, with its high ceilings and ethereal council members.

They lined one side of the vast hallway, and Sasuke instantly recognized Gaara Sabaku's face and red hair among them, standing firm and tall in their midst. As a member of the Jounin race, such a position was more than likely a coveted if not revered honor. An honor that could not be blemished under suspect to favoritism, Sasuke thought grimly. There would be no help, not from Naruto's friends and not from the Jounin himself. All the other principals already stood at the other end, silent as he walked the long aisle. When he had come nearly to the stairs, one guard touched his arm and nodded toward Naruto and Hinata, who waited at the right side of the wide steps. "Stand with them," the guard said.

Sasuke took the space between the two Jounin. At the other end of the steps stood Captain Hayato Tomoe, wearing his black-jacketed uniform with his cap tucked into his belt. Although Tomoe looked incongruous before the Federate council in his gold-edged black and flecks of red, Sasuke found that the sight of the uniform reawoke an old, disquieting response: grudging but automatic submission to his authority.

Several steps from Tomoe, flanking a space evidently meant for Sasuke, waited First Marshal Juro Nakahara. Knowing from his plain gray shipboards that Sasuke still could not wear the uniform, and remembering the man's fairness and honor, Sasuke felt a traitor.

He glanced right and left. Naruto and Hinata seemed so alike in stature and bearing that he felt out of place and unwanted among the Jounin of Konoha, the eyes and heart of the Federacy. They stood at ease, and if they did not dominate the chamber, at least they were at home.

Sasuke felt the same loneliness claw, like a ghost's hand, up to his heart.

Gaara Sabaku's white robe rustled as he rose. Once all eyes turned to him, he spoke. His voice reverberated from the high ceiling. "We are assembled to consider the disposition of Lord Sasuke Uchiha of Otogakure, which has become an issue of sufficient magnitude to warrant this Council's attention."

"We shall proceed as follows: the Otogakure government shall speak first, as the body to which Sasuke is responsible. Then we shall hear Lieutenant General Uzumaki, the guarantor of the asylum now ending, and Captain Hyuga, who served as temporary guardian under General Uzumaki."

Sasuke caught Hinata's movement with his peripheral vision, although he carefully kept his eyes forward. Hinata had turned slightly to study Tomoe and Nakahara with her keen gray eyes. Otogakure had sent an imposing pair: Tomoe dark-haired, the Marshal gray, but both massive.

Gaara went on. "Following the guarantors of the asylum, any Councilor who wishes to recommend shall speak; then, as it is his own fate that we decide today, Lord Uchiha shall take the final position of influence and honor. Are there any objections to this order?"

There were none. "Very well. Which of you shall speak for Otogakure?"

As First Marshal Nakahara stepped forward, Sasuke groaned inside. Captain Tomoe placed both hands on the hilts of his ceremonial sword. Sasuke's breath quickened at the traditional gesture of censure, and he slowed it with an effort.

"Your Honors," Nakahara began in his rich baritone. "The Crown and the Electoral Council of Otogakure request that Captain Sasuke Uchiha, Third Prince of Oto, surrender himself to the government which, by birth, he does represent, and which, by military oath, he serves. He is called upon to answer charges pertaining to his conduct as an officer of the Otogakure Planetary Navy. As a sovereign government under the protectorship of the Interstellar Federacy..." The Marshal paused for emphasis and glared at Naruto. "We do insist that our internal laws be respected."

Sasuke groaned silently. They had chosen to base their demand on a key Federate practice: self-government. He struggled to think of a rebuttal, but before he could put together a coherent thought, the dour General Raikage, a burly man Sasuke knew to be the leader of the Kumogakure, stood to speak.

"Marshal Nakahara, perhaps the Otogakure delegation would postulate the whereabouts of a merchant vessel called the _Miri_, which left Ame nine days ago with a shipment of Tenojin ore and has not arrived at its destination, Kirigakure III."

_Orochimaru_, thought Sasuke, _he's at it again_! A wave of dizziness washed over him as Nakahara's sharp intake of breath betrayed his discomfiture. He exchanged glances with Captain Tomoe before answering.

"Your Honor, we have not been authorized to treat on any subject but the surrender of Captain Uchiha."

"I believe we were speaking of honoring internal law," replied Raikage, but he sat down without saying more.

Gaara motioned to Naruto, very formally. "General."

Naruto stepped forward. "Your Honors, some time ago I offered a place among us to Lord Sasuke, on behalf of the Federacy. I request that the choice remain his, to join us if he so desires."

Sasuke didn't like the coldness in his voice, spoken with impartial and utterly _correct_ intentions. It was hardly the whispers and sweet words he'd been hearing the past few weeks.

"General," called the head of the Council. "Do you make a recommendation as to that choice?"

"Let the Federacy remember that this is a person of talent and intelligence, whose life should not be wasted."

Sasuke's heart leapt a little at that.

"Then, you recommend, General?"

"The decision should be his." Naruto stepped back. Sasuke knew that note in his voice: he would say no more. Perhaps his own highest priority stood on trial.

"Captain Hyuga?" Gaara turned slightly. "Do you recommend?"

Naruto's head turned toward Hinata, and Sasuke intercepted the cautioning glance. "No," Hinata answered blandly. "Let the Council decide."

"_The Council,"_ she had said. Not _"her."_ Very diplomatic.

"Colleagues?" Gaara swept the arc with his gaze as Sasuke searched for sympathetic faces.

Admiral Oonoki rose on his broad stool. "Let the Lord choose," he wheezed. "It is his destiny of which we speak."

Sasuke nodded at him, although he was disappointed that he'd said no more than Naruto. In the ensuing silence he heard a faint, rhythmic tapping: Captain Tomoe, drumming his fingers on the red leather of his sword's sheath.

"Any others?"

General Raikage stood. "My colleague speaks of destiny." He nodded toward Admiral Oonoki. "But a man's destiny lies more often in the hands of others than in his own. Furthermore, I too remind the Council that it is Federate policy not to interfere in local affairs. Otogakure must deal with its own aristocracy, and we cannot preempt its jurisdiction over an Oto citizen." His voice, deep and clear, seemed to hang in the air like bells of doom.

"Any others?" Gaara asked again and waited. "Lord Uchiha?"

Sasuke stepped out from between the Jounin. Facing Gaara and ignoring all others lest his composure slip, he spoke. "Your Honor, General Raikage speaks truly when he says that my destiny is in the hands of others. I live today because of words and actions of others here present. And while living under the protection of the Federacy, I have studied the governments and peoples whom it serves. In the eyes of the Federacy, I have read, the rights of the individual citizen of every system take precedence over all corporate rights. Therefore I ask to be heard as an individual, Your Honors. One by one, my ties with Oto have been falling away, and if I am allowed the choice, I will not return there yet."

Raikage's dark voice rang out. "Even if to remain on Suna would mean your death?"

Would they execute him rather than continue his asylum against Oto's wishes? Then again, perhaps they might allow him to honorably settle the matter himself, with an Otogakure dagger. He was forced to the same conclusion he had drawn weeks before, when at Ame he had asked for termination papers: The only fate he could not face was a traitor's public execution on his home planet.

"Yes, Your Honor. Even if it meant my death." He glanced guiltily toward Marshal Nakahara as he backed into his place.

Gaara Sabaku seated himself. "Colleagues, let us judge."

Sasuke watched the Councilors confer in silent privacy, speaking via their screens and touchboards with flying fingers or the digits that served them in fingers' stead. He shivered. The chamber seemed to have grown very cold in only a few minutes. They were taking considerable time with their decision, but whether that was a hopeful sign, he couldn't guess.

Gaara looked up. "General Uzumaki, please come to the board."

Naruto's hair, sun-bleached from weeks planet-side, caught a gleam of light as he walked with what looked like utter relaxation around the far end of the table. He read the screen with an intent expression, hesitated, then reached for the board.

General Raikage stood. Sasuke composed himself to stand steadily to the very end.

"Lord Sasuke. It is on record before this Council that you would prefer to remain on Suna, even if it means your death, and not return to Oto. Would you confirm that statement?"

Sasuke tried to subdue the pleading note in his voice. "If I returned to Oto it would surely mean my death, Your Honor. I would stay. Here, though I die, I have had a choice."

Raikage returned to his touchboard, and then the seven Councillors turned to Naruto. He gave a slight nod and soberly touched a single panel.

It seemed that everyone in the chamber shifted. Gaara reached down a last time, rose to his feet, and beckoned regally. "Lord Sasuke, come forward."

As Sasuke slowly mounted the three broad steps to stand at the center of the table's arch, Gaara continued.

"The salient points in the decision reached by this Council are as follows. One, Lord Sasuke has sought and yet seeks asylum among us. Two, Lord Sasuke was taken by the Federacy as a prisoner of war, during an act of war initiated by the then-independent government of Otogakure. Three, Lord Uchiha is yet an Otogakure subject."

As he emphasized those final words, Sasuke's heart sank. He glanced helplessly at Naruto, but the Jounin did not acknowledge him. He stood with the Council; Sasuke stood alone.

Bitterly, he resigned himself to that loneliness and awaited his fate.

"Legally, then, the Otogakure delegation is entitled to demand Sasuke's return. However, the attempt on the prisoner's life here on Suna has led us to believe that he will not be granted a just trial on Oto. Honorable delegates, do you wish to deny this?"

Sasuke did not turn, but he knew Nakahara's voice well. "He will have a trial, Your Honor."

"We assume that your verdict has already been delivered, Marshal Nakahara."

The huge Marshal only returned Gaara's stare.

"Very well. Lord Sasuke, we wish peace with your people. If that peace required your death, you would choose to meet it here?"

"Yes, Your Honor. If you so order, I ask only privacy and a keen blade." 

"No, sir." Gaara nodded to Naruto. Sasuke kept his eyes on the Council table but felt Naruto walk slowly around behind him, and after an interminable moment he heard the keen note of a Bunshin's sonic activator.

Aghast, he turned to face the Jounin. This was not proper! Naruto's eyes were clear, though, and his face determined as he swept up the shimmering broadsword, halting it a hand's breadth from Sasuke's throat.

"Face the Council." Naruto's low voice allowed no objection.

Sasuke turned his back on him and on hope. He felt all eyes on him. Surely Hinata's shone. The chamber was as still as death, except for the singing Bunshin. In those brief moments, Sasuke silently congratulated himself for the instinct to hesitate in trusting Jounin kind. He had trusted Naruto, though a part of him had wisely hesitated to give everything him— though he'd certainly given too much to avoid injury now. He felt it keenly, like the shock of Roushi's stinger. He'd seen the blow coming, expected this betrayal, had waited for it. But now that it was upon him, the searing pain was a little too great to bear and equally stung his eyes. Focusing his attention on his imminent demise, he was able to calm himself.

In death he would feel no pain.

"Honorable delegates," said Gaara. "You have witnessed the confirmed choice of this prisoner: to die on Suna, rather than return to Otogakure. Do you acknowledge our authority to rule thus?"

Captain Tomoe's voice grated with irritation. "This is entirely irregular, Your Honor. If you will not give him over to custody, we demand that he be given the means to dispatch himself in the traditional manner."

"We are aware of Otogakure suicide customs, Captain. It will not be allowed. The decision of the Council has been made, and it hangs partially upon your answer. Do you bow to our ruling, Marshal?"

Sasuke's ears were full of the song of the blade. It hovered very, very near. The blow would be quick at least. He'd never see it coming… Here one moment, and gone to Itachi in the next.

Nakahara hesitated. The end might be the same, but to an Otogakure subject, ceremony was almost half of justice. "We abstain from voicing, Your Honor," he said at last. "Sasuke's fate should be decided by Oto custom alone."

Gaara smiled slightly. "Then, we declare our decision in full." His ringing voice softened. "Lord Sasuke, you are free to die here, a subject of Otogakure—under _our _custom—or to return with these your people. However, we would allow you to remain on Suna, if you chose to become a Federate transnational citizen and ceased to be an extraditable alien. We ask you to make no final decision under the duress of this moment, but we do request some assurance that you are seriously considering transnationality. For the purposes of this hearing, if you will renounce your loyalty to Oto before this delegation, which seeks justice under our authority but abstains from submitting to our ruling, we will consider our requirements met."

Sasuke started. The Council _would _bar his extradition! They had deliberately forced the Oto's abstention by disallowing his suicide. Then, surely... He turned to Naruto, who stood steady and collected. Through the atom-edged blade, he still could read no feeling on his face. Beyond him, Tomoe hungrily fingered the hilts of his own sword; Marshal Nakahara stood at rigid attention, and Hinata's black eyes gleamed fiercely. Sasuke knew precisely what each expected him to say. But his destiny had been given back to him, and he thought suddenly of Naruto's words on the high ridge. As a priority, Otogakure had failed him. Even now, Naruto had failed him.

But Sasuke had the choice not to fail himself.

He faced the table. "Your Honors, I will take Federate citizenship now, if my service to you will help bring peace between our peoples."

He was gratified by the surprise, which changed quickly to satisfaction, on the subtle muscles on Gaara's face. "Lord Sasuke, we demand no such commitment of you. If you take an oath of allegiance to us now, you do so without duress and in full view of representatives of the Oto government. Are you so willing?"

"I am."

Behind him, the Bunshin's hum snapped off.

Gaara Sabaku touched several panels and met Sasuke's eyes again. "You will take this oath, then."

"Solemnly I swear this day," Sasuke repeated after Gaara, "my unwavering allegiance to the author—" He stumbled. "—Authority of the Interstellar Federacy."

"I do acknowledge," intoned Gaara, "that Federate transnationality supersedes any citizenship." Knowing Nakahara and Tomoe stood as witnesses, Sasuke took a deep breath, then another.

"Go on," Naruto said quietly. But Sasuke remained silent a moment longer, for a lifetime of unquestioning loyalty lay behind him. He must vow away his aristocratic pride before Tomoe and his single-minded determination to win glory before his Marshal. It was a high price to pay, to become a full person.

But he had already chosen. He steeled himself to cross that line and calmly asked, "Would you repeat that clause, please?"

"I do acknowledge that Federate transnationality supersedes any citizenship, affiliation, or rank that I hold under any local government.

"I do swear that I shall serve the Interstellar Council and its designates in any way, at any time, for any reason they so request, even to the laying down of my life.

"I do swear never to bear arms against the Federacy, any of its protectorates, or any representative thereof.

"Should I break this oath in any way, at any time, for any reason, I do swear that I shall submit myself to the Federacy for justice. From this day forward, I live in the awareness of this oath, both its responsibilities and its rights, as a citizen of the galaxy."

Gaara Sabaku slipped a paper from his transcriber and turned it upon the tabletop to face Sasuke, who signed away his past with only a twinge of homesick regret. It was done.

Naruto rode back with him to the minimum-security floor.

"Can I ?" he said as they stood beside Sasuke's room.

The boy stopped in his doorway and considered. The Jounin finally had some emotion on his face, devoid completely of the mask he'd had moments before. Suddenly furious, Sasuke punched the opening lock to his door and stormed inside.

"Tea?" he asked tersely.

"No. Talk to me."

"You talk to _me_!" Sasuke stood rigid in his place, separating himself from Naruto by his little table for fear he might strike the Jounin if he remained close to him. "A trick, was it?" he hissed, leaning heavily on the cold surface. "To trap them? And the Bunshin, Naruto? Tell me, where would you have struck? The neck, hopefully. I wouldn't see it coming, and Hinata would have loved to see my head roll." Sasuke wanted to bellow suddenly that he should have chosen to stab him in the back, for sheer poeticism, but bit that back, choosing to maintain some semblance of control.

Naruto came over and attempted to grasp both his hands. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. It was no trick, I swear. They were maneuvered, but they held the critical choice in their own hands. It was a terrible risk, but it was legal. As the guarantor of your asylum, I was the symbolic nominee for the role I took. I was certain they would demand to see things done their own way. And certain... enough... that you would not go back of your own volition."

"It could have ended that way, then," Sasuke said lowly, shifting away from him to the opposite side of the chamber, to the window and the beautiful Suna skyline beyond. He willed himself to calm down, willed his frantic heartbeat and the thoughts of Naruto's _near_ betrayal to still. He wouldn't act a child now, not with the loss of so much in the past few minutes. Sasuke wouldn't lose both his honorable disposition and any respect Naruto might have for him yet, though the latter he felt that he didn't give a _damn_ about now.

Finally, he released a sigh, allowed a stern numbness to overtake him; all feeling stopped.

"Sasuke please," Naruto whispered. He must have felt his cold resignation.

"It would have ended?" Sasuke repeated, this time calm, collected.

"Yes," Naruto replied at length. "If you had so requested, the Council would have sent you home. You're dealing with a bureaucracy, Sasuke. An idealistic one—but a bureaucracy all the same."

"And if Marshal Nakahara had consented to let you kill me?"

A pause. "Do you think he could have?"

"Oh yes, he could have," he whispered. "He's a good man but under orders. If you thought my loyalty to Oto was unflinching, you know nothing of devotion."

"But that wasn't the way it turned out—"

"What if it had?"

The question, so pointed, allowed no more room for denial, and Naruto, standing smaller than Sasuke had ever seen him, said nothing.

"Get out," the boy said calmly.

"Let me show you."

"_Get._ _Out."_

"Sasuke, _please_!"

"Show me _what?_" He spun, accusing. Naruto's hands were spread, level with his stomach, while his eyes pleaded for understanding beyond words. Angry, aggressive and unflinching, Sasuke crossed the expanse between them in three steps and stood toe to toe with the Jounin. "Show. Me. What?"

Naruto sighed; the release caused his shoulders to sag further, and now Sasuke, in his straightened stature, felt somehow taller than him.

Tentatively, Naruto raised a hand to the boy's forehead, and Sasuke allowed the mental transfer to take place.

…_Sasuke's eyes flew from the image of his quarters, and for a moment he thought they were inside_ **his**_ memories of the council cession. But all at once, he realized that the heavy sadness crashing into his shoulders like a yolk was not his own. Sasuke knew his own emotions: they were sharp, vicious, and cutting. Naruto's fell upon him like a solidity that simply _**was**_ and didn't shift no matter the amount of mental training the Jounin had endured. Naruto's mind, however, contemplated the situation with the same steely logic that Sasuke also possessed. He didn't know if that was the connection Naruto spoke of when he referred to __**connaturality**__, but nevertheless it made understanding the chorus of emotions tumbling about in Naruto's head easier. _

_Gaara, Naruto's great friend, called him/Naruto to the wide arching table inside the council chambers, and he/Naruto could feel the heaviness in his own feet as he walked. Naruto experienced the sensation of a Jounin recognizing fear in another and felt it pool like a current from his visage through Naruto's eyes. He/Naruto longed with all his might to shield and comfort Sasuke, who stood alone and tiny in the face of the universe's greatest cumulative power. And as Sasuke neared the table with Naruto's feet, he felt the welcome brush of Gaara's mind, registering the soothing emotions the General sent his way. Was Naruto so pained that Gaara could feel it despite his Chakra shields? _

_No, he thought quickly, but Gaara already knew of Naruto's affection for Sasuke(— _this the boy registered with a little shock—)_ Gaara must have guessed Naruto's emotional instability, and that was enough. _

_With Naruto's eyes, Sasuke skimmed the provided text before him: a plan of Gaara's design with risky connotations and possibly disastrous results. He/Naruto read over his intended part in the escapade and unconsciously let an emotional tendril of horror escape his grasp. He/Naruto met Gaara's eyes and damned his inability at control when Sasuke was involved. _

_**It will work**__ Gaara said in the internal mind-link he forcibly created as a bridge to Naruto's psyche. I swear to you it will._

_Sasuke could feel Naruto's forced control to keep his face blank, feigning contemplation, while his thoughts tumbled raucously, __**What if it doesn't?**_

_Gaara did not answer, but the gaze he/Naruto saw was certain. He could trust Gaara. The years they'd known each other as well as the brotherhood of the Jounin that bound them closer than blood concreted the assertion. He/Naruto nodded slowly and stood behind Sasuke. When it was time, though, Naruto hadn't counted on Sasuke's emotional barrage at the sound of the Bunshin activating. He/Naruto watched in silent horror as the other Sasuke inwardly congratulated himself for keeping his wits about him, not trusting Naruto. He stifled a cry when he distinctly felt Sasuke acknowledge that not only Otogakure but Naruto as well had failed him. The only consolation was the boy's will to not fail himself, which had saved him from certain death…_

Without warning, Sasuke was suddenly inside his own body, the abrupt sensation causing him to knock about clumsily. Naruto caught him before he could fall, and Sasuke clung to him. "You…" he choked. "You really feel _all of that_? _All the time_?"

Naruto nodded sagely, lifting a hand to wipe matted, wet hair out of his eyes. "I'm sorry, but you needed to know. There was no other way you could have believed me. I felt your loneliness in the council chambers, how you praised yourself for not trusting me, and it hurt. I never meant to deceive you. I only did it to save you; I promise."

Sasuke nodded slowly, wrapping hands around the huge shoulders before him. His heart suddenly felt so full that it might burst.

_Naruto hadn't deserted him. _

"Sasuke, will you give me something?" he whispered. "If your feelings for me had any bearing on your decision, tell me so. Or better still, show me." He drew Sasuke to his feet; and in wordless acceptance the boy slipped his hands behind his waist.

Naruto held back for a moment, stroking his hair. "You already know this, although I haven't told you." His voice was curiously deep. "But I love you." His fingers locked behind Sasuke's neck, and he bent down toward his lips. As he touched them with his own, first lightly but then more insistently, Sasuke felt Naruto's presence at the edge of his mind, warmer than before and stronger.

_Is pair bonding like this_? he wondered.

In that moment, recalling again the overpowering sensation of mind-access, Sasuke understood how much of himself Naruto was holding back to gentle him, and glimpsed the magnitude of what he would be able to do when he chose. Sasuke clutched him all the tighter.

When Naruto's arms finally loosened, Sasuke turned his head and pressed it the firm chest, holding all thought and tension at bay.

Then he remembered Raikage's words to Marshal Nakahara. "Naruto."

The Jounin smiled down at him. A wisp of pale hair fell onto one light eyebrow.

"That ship that vanished—the _Miri_—I'm sure Oto has it. They've got to be working on that Tenojin project again. And I think I know where."

**If it's any consolation, at least it's a nice, long chapter. That shower scene really took a lot out of me. I have no idea why it was hard to write. I've written raunchier things (of course) but conveying a physical/psychic love is rather difficult. Tell me what you think about it because honestly, it miffs me a little bit. **

**Ten thousand words this time around… Hot damn!**


	18. Chapter 17

**Once again, another chapter. So strange for it all to be coming to a close in a few chapters! Review, won't you? **

**Chapter 17**

Sasuke grasped Naruto's wrists. "That ship that vanished—the _Miri_—I'm sure Oto has it. They've got to be working on that Tenojin project again. And I think I know where."

Naruto pulled a little farther away, and Sasuke felt his scrutiny where a moment before there had been only tenderness. "Go on."

"You don't believe me."

"You're mistaken."

Sasuke swallowed a qualm of bruised pride and focused on his conscience. "Naruto, when you interrogated me, I was—I was a different person. I did the best I could."

"Let's worry about blame another time, Sasuke. Where?"

"Naka Shrine. It's a... I'll show you, if you'd like. Access, I mean."

"I think that would be best." He motioned Sasuke to the lounger. As he settled down, the guilt and unease softened in the warmth of Naruto's nearness. In this matter, at least, the way seemed clear. He felt the Jounin's mind press into his, and then a series of images flickered so quickly across his mind that he felt a slight headache growing in his temple. Nevertheless he guided Naruto from the capital city of Oto following a northern river to a series of tall, rugged mountains. In their center, camouflaged so well that even in memory it almost disappeared, the castle-like structure of Naka Shrine lay silent amongst the evergreens and pastures.

When Naruto withdrew a little later, Sasuke let his head fall back. "I _am _sorry, Naruto." The Jounin walked to the door.

"Come with me. We may be able to speak with Gaara before he retires for the night."

The moment Sasuke finished explaining to the tall man in white, the door of Gaara's bare outer office slid open again, admitting Hinata Hyuga. The Sentinel strode in without word or glance to Sasuke or Naruto. "Gaara, forgive me. I sensed your agitation, and came in."

As Sasuke thought, _You sensed whose agitation, Hinata_? the General's gaze swept from Naruto to Hinata and then back again, more business-like than usual. "Hinata," he said slowly. He bent down to touch a computer terminal on the room's single fixture, a secretary's desk. "Perhaps you can clarify an issue for me. Sasuke confesses to having concealed vital data from Naruto under interrogation, data which if genuine could require our immediate action. In your opinion, is this possible?"

"Him?" Hinata's control slipped, allowing incredulity into her voice. "Gaara, as you well know, this boy is no match for Naruto—in any way!"

Sasuke nearly flushed in considering every connotation of the words.

"You have held him under access yourself, then?" Naruto asked.

"I have not. But I know you, Naruto. I know your strength—and your training—and the heritage of your family. You seem to have forgotten who and what you are." She turned back to Gaara. "General, Sasuke Uchiha of Otogakure could never have deceived Naruto under access, not then. But, perhaps, now that he has had opportunity for learning to work around his abilities—"

"Gaara, you know that I would know deception." Naruto insisted and turned on Hinata, his face white. "And if _you_ know my strength, you know that too. A grave danger exists to the Federacy, and I have offered my services to avert it."

Gaara, obviously acting as neither a Jounin or Naruto's long-time friend but as a member of the Federate military of Suna, convened with his touchboard for a minute longer, then shut it down. "Naruto, I'm sorry but I can't be convinced like this. The evidence is entirely too weak, and we must not demonstrate disrespect to the Otogakure government. Sasuke, we appreciate your transfer of citizenship deeply, but these weeks you have spent in General Uzumaki's company do seem to support Hinata's suggestion. Won't you tell the truth now, before all of us? We think it far more likely that the data gained during the original access are correct and unembellished."

Sasuke bristled. "I am not inventing this, sir! You are in danger—let Hinata access my memory too, if she must! Or you yourself, please!"

Gaara's bright eyes dimmed slightly, a hard line forming on his mouth. "My very… special position limits me from performing an access over you, Sasuke. Likewise, as Hinata is currently my subordinate, I cannot give her permission without making a formal command, one that will need to be documented. However, in the morning, I shall dispatch a message to Governor Mifune on Oto to check on this locality. His staff should have answers for us within a few weeks, proceeding cautiously, or immediately, should they feel the need to strike. Thank you for your concern, Sasuke, and your counsel, Captain Hyuga. And, Naruto…" Gaara's eyes shifted again, and something in the air changed. Sasuke could sense it just like a feathering, too distant to be a real touch. "Your offer is appreciated, but your services are needed here on Suna. Please return Sasuke to his quarters."

Sasuke's door closed behind them as he stumbled toward the kitchenette. "Tea now?" he offered wearily.

"Please." Naruto took a stool and stared at the corner table. "Gaara believed me. I could feel it and he might as well have told me as much with the way his chakra was flaring, but Otogakure is incensed at your survival. The Council was contacted the moment Nakahara sent them a transmission in space, declaring their outrage to the situation, especially at Jounin involvement in the affair. As one of us, Gaara has had to deal carefully. He cannot act as a Jounin while the Council stands in slander because of our kindred."

"Yes, I know…" Sasuke pulled a pair of filled cups from the cubby and set one before him. "But are there any others we can address? Perhaps General Nara? Or even non-Jounin forces— or do they distrust you because you're also a Jounin?"

"They do," Naruto whispered. "They all do. Even those who honor us. I'm certain now." His misery showed plainly in the set of his jaw and the lines between his eyes. Sasuke wanted badly to ease that hurt but could think of nothing to say, too numbed by the Federacy's rejection of his own help in the hour he had taken citizenship. This idealistic Federacy could find itself destroyed by its trust of Otogakure leaders.

After a time Naruto got himself another cup of tea, downed it standing, and tucked the cup into the sterilizer. "Get some sleep if you can, Captain. I may be back, but don't wait for me." He left without explaining.

Sasuke stumbled to the back room, dragged off his dress tunic's loose shirt and fell partially clothed onto the bed. _Captain. He hasn't called me that since…_

The next he knew, Naruto was pulling him back to his feet and pushing another cup of tea at him. Trying to stand steady enough not to spill it woke him somewhat. Naruto vanished into the bathing room. In a minute, Sasuke peered in. All his personal things had disappeared, and the Jounin was closing a small black duffel kit.

"What are you doing?" Blinking sleepily, he slowly dawned the wrinkled dress tunic he had worn to face the Council.

"You and I are going to Naka Shrine."

"Gaara changed his mind? How did you do it?"

"He didn't."

Sasuke leaned against the doorway. "You mean to go without orders?"

"Against orders," he corrected calmly.

"Naruto…" He shook his sleep-fogged head. "What do you want me to do?"

"Get us in. Identify the toxin and the collaborators. Help me get rid of it and them. Then get us out, if you can."

"But what about Gaara—"

"He's wrong." He handed Sasuke the kit. "We both know it. And your Tenojin people have had too much time already, since the _Miri _disappeared."

"_**My**__ Tenojin_ people?"

Naruto snorted softly. "Sorry." He took it for granted that Sasuke would help him.

"But the Council—the High Command..."

Handing him the duffel, Naruto spoke slowly. "I must follow the vows I made when I was vested as a Jounin. We are talking about an entire populable world fouled, if you understand it right. It could be Konoha, Ame, Suna."

"Suna. Orochimaru would like that."

"Knowing that Otogakure will be eligible for full Federate covenance in five years?"

"There are Otogakure elite who won't ever want that."

"Sasuke—" Naruto's gaze was fierce. "If Orochimaru's Tenojin project is deployed, Suna is likely gone. If Suna goes, Oto will be... punished. Yet Mifune would win no support for the Federacy by sending missiles into Naka Shrine, a sacred land to your people. Two of us, though, with my skills and your knowledge of the area, might be able to destroy the project and its developers without taking other lives. We must forestall that strike—for your home's sake."

Sasuke finally straightened.

"Are you ready?"

He seized an extra pair of shipboards from the open closet. "Ready."

In the gleaming speeder jet they'd taken on its maiden voyage in the plains, they soared out to the Interstellar Fleet's primary spaceport. On the way, Sasuke admired the vastness of space and felt his numbed heart swell slightly as he gazed upon familiar star systems. Sakura's enthusiastic harangues about the different galaxies in the whorl came back in a flash, and with his finger, her absently pointed to the her favorite stars. When they arrived at the crescent-shaped space station hovering in Suna's orbit, an attendant took the craft into his charge at the gate of the massive clear dome, and as Naruto watched apprehensively, the young Lieutenant slid into the pilot's seat with undisguised glee.

Sasuke watched Naruto's gaze follow the speeder to the storage hangar, laughing silently in sympathy. Then Naruto led onto the base proper, past rows of symmetrically parked atmospheric craft and streamlined dual-drive ships that were equally maneuverable in vacuum and atmosphere: interceptors, transports, frigates, gunships, and shuttles. Sasuke's eyes widened at the display of Federate striking power, gleaming under the lights.

As they hurried along, Naruto pointed out several craft. "But the ones over by the fifth fence will always be my favorites," he said. "The old LR-2s. The greenest of us flew them in the Great Shinobi War. They're obsolete now, but with better generators they'd serve in a crisis. Their shields were outstanding for their weight, and they do carry four cannon apiece."

"How old were you, Naruto?"

"Fifteen and crazy to fly. It's a wonder I survived. I did some mighty stupid things."

"I think I read about some of them. Unit Seventy-eight—"

"_Federacy of the Free_. They made me a hero, but I deserved to be spaced in slip for that raid on Kiri. No orders, no support ships, and nine fighter pilots following as if I were an Admiral. If a Kiri reactor hadn't melted down, I'd have killed all ten of us. There was this one fighter, who I found out later was named Haku— Crazy kid, a little older than me, nearly took down all of us in one swoop. But when the reactor fried, he pushed his fighter into another one to save it from the blast. Then one of my crewmen shot him down. I'll never forget it."

Sasuke paused to imagine the colorful dogfight wistfully. He'd only partaken in one badly-planned planetary assault. "I was a wild pilot at fifteen, too," he said somberly. "Which was surprising because they normally didn't let Misslings into a fightercraft until twenty."

"Oh?" Naruto asked with a grin. "Using your royalty to your advantage, eh Sasuke?"

Sasuke smirked. "Not exactly. Itachi had just passed; I felt like I needed something to keep my mind off it. I couldn't follow him without my Seppuku orders, or my entire line would be shamed." Naruto cast him a sharp glance that Sasuke ignored. "I turned in an application to be allowed to pilot the older fighters in test runs, like a drone only with nerves. I think they pitied me enough and let it go through."

As if trying to divulge from the topic, Naruto said gently, "I thought you were younger than that when you first flew."

Sasuke blinked. "Oh, I was fifteen by Otogakure years. I guess in standard years I was closer to twelve. Maybe thirteen, I can't remember."

"How old are you now, Sasuke?"

Struck by the question, he did the math in his head, converting Oto years into Federate in a few moments. "I guess, eighteen, by your standards. Back home I'm closer to twenty-two." The Jounin smiled softly, but Sasuke's curiosity piqued. "How old are you, Naruto?"

"This October I'll be thirty-one, standard years."

That sobered Sasuke. Over a decade of experience apart. And Naruto claimed he wanted _him_?

"So Sakura…"Naruto asked very quietly, "She was your age too, right?"

Sasuke felt his chest tighten, and customarily his throat burned. Unable to speak, he nodded. Though, he thought quickly, he hadn't actually spoken of Sakura since her death, and to deny talking of her now when he finally had the chance would shame her. Though when he spoke, it somehow felt hot, like picking open an old wound and suffering the fever that followed. "She was younger than me, about a year. A Missling, like me, but she had a goodness and selflessness that was rare among us. When you don't think you'll live very long, you tend to be a little crazy. Some Misslings would do anything to have a good time; I myself was obsessed with leaving behind…_ something _of value for the people who were going to live after me. But Sakura always thought of others before herself. She never doubted or tried to bring anyone down, and she had such a voracious mind, a passion for learning. All she wanted was love, and in return she got…" He choked as his mind filled with the fire of her ship's explosion."

"I'm sorry, Sasuke." Naruto stopped walking and placed a massive hand on the boy's shoulder. Sasuke caught the whole meaning of his apology and nodded. "Though I'm happy you knew her. I'm happy she was stubborn and became friends with you." Sasuke looked up to find Naruto beaming with a smile. "I have a feeling if she hadn't, you would have been a different sort of person from the one I met that day. If I could meet her, I'd thank her with all my heart for staying with you."

The Oto Prince, for a moment, could imagine a perfect world where the two met each other. Sakura would be smitten with Naruto's kind nature and handsome features. She'd immediately set about to making friends with him; her face would alight with one of her mischievous smiles, her quick mind working out ways to flirt or tease the Jounin. Naruto in turn would instantly gravitate to her. He could picture them spending a copious amount of time together, discussing all the different systems of the whorl. The three of them could have travelled it together…

Naruto's smile softened, and Sasuke knew he must have caught on to his thoughts. "I think she's still with you, Sasuke. I know that wherever she is, she must be proud of you."

Unable to form a decent reply, Sasuke lowered his head and nodded, burning inwardly at the thought of her approval. In silence they continued inside a stuffy arms depot that smelled like institutional disinfectant. Naruto picked up a black drillcloth pack and allowed Sasuke a peep inside at a pair of wafer-thin touch activators that looked like plastic gaming cards, and a full load of miniature explosives—sonic, incendiary, and others he didn't recognize and Naruto didn't explain. Three stylus-shaped recharges for his blaster vanished into a side pocket of the pack.

"I know the night sentry fairly well," Naruto said softly as they zipped into high-g acceleration oversuits. "She assumes when I make a supply call it's official business. That comes from dealing with S.O. We always have to have things at odd hours. It's how I got a ship, too, and how we'll get off-planet." A woman appeared from the back room.

"This looks good," he told her. "Now we need one more blaster. Otogakure issue, if possible."

He finished arming Sasuke with a small, silver stinger and a slim black bootknife. He tucked them into a g-suit pocket and followed Naruto out.

Hundreds of near stars still shone through the arc of the dome, although the sky had begun to brighten toward dawn. They stopped at a parking row near the dome's far edge, before a thirty-meter craft with very minor atmospheric adaptations: its enormous stardrive engine dwarfed the slim, upper cabin compartment. "It's a DS-212, the _Bee_, designed for clandestine message delivery." Naruto examined its rounded surface and talked his way down its length. "They've pared it down to absolute essentials for long-distance slip. It's no yacht, but it's extremely fast. It'll maintain acceleration and deceleration at several g's past what normal translight drives will give you." At the tail he straightened and grinned. "It rides like a missile."

Sasuke jumped for the security handle, got his balance on the doorplate, and released the entry hatch. Naruto followed him in and secured the hatchway behind him, plunging the cabin into darkness. Feeling his way, Sasuke slipped into the first officer's chair. Naruto touched a control, and the cabin's luminescent ceiling stripes glimmered bright blue. He squeezed between the seats and into the pilot's and began rearranging the controls on the slanting display. "Would you stow the pack? There's a bulkhead compartment behind you."

He heard the familiar thrum of atmospheric ion engines beginning to respond to their lasers as he closed down a magnetic seal and felt the customary thrill of excitement that always arrived during takeoff. Returning to his seat as Naruto finished his checkout, he slipped into the flight harness.

"_If _we should get into a scrap," the Jounin said, "you shoot, I'll fly. Here's the ordnance board." He touched an orange rectangular panel at the center of the console, and the Otogakure Captain studied it while the Jounin raised the ship and set it in motion.

A vast, wedge-shaped sky hatch loomed ahead, edged by luminous strips. Naruto obtained clearance for takeoff on first request, flipped the last levers, then killed the strip-lights. The atmospheric drive came to full power. Naruto released the ground brakes and they shot through the wedge, away from the base.

Sasuke watched Suna dwindle, and the stars of the Whorl glowed in multicolored brilliance as the ship left Suna's obscuring atmosphere. As Naruto had predicted, they were not challenged, but still he felt uneasy. What world would he call home now? He had abandoned Oto, and now he was helping Naruto flirt with insubordination.

Or was he? His Jounin vows, he had declared tonight, took precedence over the Federacy's orders_. As_ _Hinata's vows took precedence over Naruto's orders,_ he thought with a sudden chill. One Jounin had betrayed him for those vows already. Uneasily he wriggled in the deeply padded seat.

"Ready to slip?" Naruto asked once they stood out far enough. Sasuke snugged the harness.

"Ready."

"Go as limp as you can. This will be more of a jolt than you expect, because we have to pick up so much speed at once. I'll max the gravidics, but they'll only take off part of the pressure."

Sasuke nodded easily and consciously relaxed every part of his body. First the odd, vibrational sensation of the slip-shield took hold of him, and then the pressure hit. Even with the high-g suit, it was worse than he anticipated. He forced his lungs to pull in a slow breath, as gradually the gravidic compensators caught up with the thrust and his conditioned body readjusted to slip-state.

When he managed to lean forward and look around, the stars on the visual screen had vanished. Naruto seemed entirely unaffected. "I checked the conversion factor for Otogakure pressure units. That was three-ten, perceptible. Almost fifty percent over your rating."

Sasuke nodded, grateful that Naruto had neither warned him graphically nor patronized him about the heightened effect of high pressure on younger officers, but had spoken as a colleague in command. Sasuke called up a smile, released his harness, and yawned.

"You're done in," Naruto observed. "It's been a long night, hasn't it?" He brought the striplights back up, turned aft, and dropped one of a pair of broad shelves from the curved cabin ceiling. "Here are the bunks. But let me show you the rest of the ship. Across the way—watch your head—is the galley servo. You'll probably enjoy the food. If I complain, it's only overfamiliarity. I've been through the menu too many times."

Sasuke glanced into the washcabin—one had to back in or out of it, it was too small to turn around in—and the cargo area. "How long do your psych people think a human can travel in a compartment this size and not go off-balance?"

"The cockpit is roomiest." He let down the second bunk, little more than a black-blanketed pallet. "So you can fly it comfortably. We have life support for two for just over a month."

Sasuke almost laughed. "You're joking."

"No. It was designed to make really long distance travel practical. The messenger service uses the DS-212 frequently, and I've spent more time in one than I care to think about." His eyes shone deep blue under the strip-lights, and suddenly Sasuke realized they were staring straight into him.

_Oh, no_! He flushed. _Four days alone, with my emotions naked before him_? _Like hell!_

_No, face them_, he told himself. _Ask him what Hinata meant—he has sworn to respect your will_. But he hesitated. He still could not bring himself to trust the Jounin entirely, and allowing the man to touch him—body or mind—might alter their relationship irrevocably.

But if Orochimaru won the round, in less than a week they both might be dead. What exactly _did _he feel for Naruto Uzumaki?

Sasuke knew Naruto felt his struggle, knew perhaps even what he was thinking, but said nothing and waited for him. Face reddening, Sasuke whispered, "Hinata suggested, that is—well, that you had ways of..." Words stuck in his throat and he sat down carefully on the lower bunk. His hand pressed white on the bedcover.

He felt Naruto moving toward him. When his hand touched Sasuke's shoulder, he found his voice. "She said Jounin could please one another in ways outsiders can't. Is it like—the way you touched me the day we took your speeder out? Or…" He didn't have the words to express the experience in the gym's shower stalls on MaxSec.

Naruto looked very serious. "Would you like me to show you?"

Twisting his hips to turn and face him, he lost his balance and fell backward. Sasuke didn't try to get up. "_Yes_," he breathed at last.

Naruto sat down beside him; Sasuke could feel the warmth of his leg pressing against his hip. A tingle of apprehension heightened an urge he could no longer pretend he did not feel.

Naruto caressed his throat, and the inward pressure of access-beginning welled up in him. This time, however, Naruto called up neither memory nor emotion, but sensation: a gradual, inexorable arousal.

_Idiot_! he upbraided himself as the warm feeling of contact intensified. Worse than the sudden jolt he'd felt the day they'd sparred in the MaxSec gym, this feeling welled in overpowering waves, tingling up from his toes, all the way through the very ends of his hair. He released a strangled breath of surprise, and felt every limb stiffen. Sasuke tried to pull away. Immediately the strength of Naruto's presence closed firmly around him, warm and reassuring, but also intoxicating. It was the sweetest honey, the worst kind of tease. He groaned softly, and his eyes fell closed. Gradually the urge to struggle left him, and the wash of warmth grew more pervasive, until he felt only Naruto's presence and his whole body tingling with fire.

Without thinking, Sasuke gasped into the sensation, one that completely overwrought the experience in the showers as juvenile foreplay to the stunning interaction that occurred now. Arms instinctually wrapped over Naruto's shoulders, pulling the Jounin on top of him. The strange pleasure derived from the Jounin's impressive weight floated between them like a growing echo, and now Sasuke heard Naruto's panting mouth next to his ear. Heaving and engorged all at once, Sasuke dimly realized they hadn't even kissed yet. The physicality of the gym's experience was lost in this intimate, sensual familiarity. That is until Sasuke unconsciously rocked his hips into Naruto's. Both men moaned at the increased contact, and Sasuke searched in heady desire for Naruto's open mouth. Flavored like tea and honey, the younger man hummed into the taste and dragged an inexperienced yet eager tongue over the moving lips. Naruto's exhale was caught by Sasuke's waiting aperture; Naruto's tongue lead the boy like a line past his quivering lips.

Urgency finally kicked into Sasuke's fevered hands as they shot up Naruto's uniformed shirt, touching red-hot skin and kneading the hardened muscle underneath. The contact was apparently welcome, for Naruto murmured something low into his ear. In the next moment the sheer presence of the Jounin's psyche had the prince's mind spinning. The textures and sensations of a new form of arousal floated in another wave from Sasuke's heels upward through his knees, pelvis, hips, and chest and then back down again with the beat of his heart. Overwhelmed, Sasuke gasped and without thinking latched teeth onto Naruto's flexing collarbone, tasting the salty hint of revealed skin.

Heated under the contact and desperate for more, Sasuke's hands worked quickly over Naruto's button-down uniform. He tore the blue overcoat off Naruto's shoulders, flinging it to the other side of the cabin, while Naruto assisted him in unbuttoning the white dress shirt underneath. Unable to help himself, he leaned upward and captured the lips once more, forgetting the act of undressing the Jounin the moment he tasted his lips once more. Naruto, however, determinedly dragged Sasuke's shirt above his head, lowering his mouth to the boy's pale collarbone. Finding something he obviously enjoyed, Naruto moaned at the taste, and Sasuke tightened his hold, drunk off the feelings Naruto elicited within him. The pressure inside his skull intensified. Warmer than he'd realized, Sasuke looked down to his own quivering form, wrapped in the massive arms and hands, and noted the position of his pelvis, locked in a tight hold with Naruto's.

_How the hell had this happened? _He thought, shutting his eyes against the corporeal imagery.

Sensing his alarm, Naruto slowly withdrew the tendril of chakra back, although not so far that Sasuke did not sense a lingering glow. Panting, he opened his eyes again. Naruto sat above him, bracing one arm against the bunk beside his shoulder. A button on his hip caught the blue striplights, reflecting streaks from its cross-rays that hurt Sasuke's eyes.

"Pair bonding," Naruto said softly into another, slow kiss on Sasuke's lips, "is brought about when two connatural minds enter one another in a contact much like that, only closer—there is a total interweaving of the deepest emotional fiber—and then, while the matrices are locked in that way, the physical union occurs. The simultaneous culmination seals the bond." He pulled a longer strand of hair from under Sasuke's shoulder and inhaled it deeply. "That is the bond that can only be broken by death. Only the connatural can endure such a close approach. That is why only the connatural can pair-bond. But connaturality, in and of itself, is not enough to make a union. There must be love. And trust." He stressed the word a little sadly. "Shared goals and enthusiasms. For each bond mate remains an individual, capable of pleasing or hurting the other."

"And you want that," Sasuke whispered, panicked. "—with _me_?"

"I have asked no one else."

He pressed his spine into the bunk's thin covering. "F-first, we have a job to do. If it doesn't come off..."

Naruto nodded slowly. "Even if it does, Sasuke, we may be in trouble—if the other Masters rule that I have misjudged the situation."

"Better us in trouble than both our worlds."

He gave Sasuke's shoulder a squeeze; another kiss warmed his brow. Then Naruto stood and stepped onto his bunk to swing himself into the upper. "You're right." His voice came down, accompanied by rustling noises. "We'll talk about it, when we're both awake again."

Awake? How could he _sleep_? The echoes of Naruto's touch ricocheted through his mind and body like laser fire. Hinata had spoken truly. Sasuke would never forget.

**Just thought to give another very short citrusy-type scene so your mouth retains a sweet taste once we venture into darker times ahead. You'll review, won't you? It really means quite a lot. **


	19. Chapter 18

**Boldly they go into the fray, alone but for each other.**

**Chapter 18**

On the last "day" in slip at about midcycle, Sasuke and Naruto finalized their plan of attack.

"The tunnel system, then, is like a long half-circle," Naruto said. "Most of the branches run east-west on the first level, north-south below that, and so on."

Sasuke nodded, drawing from the long summers he'd spend exploring the Uchiha retreat when he'd been a child. "Except for the Naka Hill spur."

"We'll try that way in only if the house is too well guarded. If they do keep gas around to fumigate for rodents, I'd like to spend as little time as possible underground."

"So would I." Rising from the bunk, Sasuke opened the galley servo and stared at its contents.

"Sasuke?" He turned around and caught a wistful look in the Jounin's eyes. "What will they do with you if you're caught? Have you considered it?"

"Well..." For an instant, his suspicion returned. Did Naruto intend to abandon him there, use him as a distraction? "Kill me, of course. But I suspect—I think—they wouldn't shoot on sight. Orochimaru sponsored Kabuto's research from the beginning, and he has to be there, if he has left the capital. If I know Orochimaru at all, he'd love to make a spectacle of executing me."

"And if things went very wrong, and they took me?"

Sasuke leaned back against the counter. The image of Naruto powerless in Orochimaru's hands disturbed him on multiple levels, and he fought to maintain tight emotional control. "That's hard. He'd be torn between hoping to... to hurt you, punish you, and trying to make everything 'proper.' Are you—"

"Afraid?" Naruto asked softly. "More so than I've ever been. Afraid to come this far and lose what you and I... could have had."

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but all words died on his lips. He couldn't answer that. Instead he supplied awkwardly, "You'll come through, Naruto. With your resources..."

Once again Naruto seemed to sense Sasuke's feeling. He flipped the bunk up and out of sight, slid the fingers of his right hand into his left sleeve, and drew the Bunshin. Sasuke came alert with a shiver of curious awe. "You didn't get much of a chance to see this resource," he said in a lighter voice, "when I had it out at the Council hearing."

Naruto turned the slim, dull gray dagger-hilt on his palm. Near the wide handguard the prince spotted a small, round activating stud; he shifted his grip, held the Bunshin at arm's length, and pressed it. Instantly, the resonant tone sang in his ears, and the meter-long blade appeared above the grip, catching the monochromatic light and reflecting scarcely visible shades of orange, red, and yellow. Naruto swept it around to stand upright between them, and watched Sasuke through the shimmering crystal as he glanced from tip to edge to center.

Roushi had described the blade's edges as of one atom's width, and Sasuke finally believed him. Wonderingly he reached out a hand. Naruto gave it to him.

He made a tentative swing in the air. It was lighter than it looked, but exquisitely balanced. "What is it made of?"

"Would you believe Chakra?" Sasuke made a face as Naruto took it back and pressed the stud again. "Are you hungry?"

Sasuke chose the stew, variety number three, spicy and warming. Naruto ate with a noticeable lack of interest, preoccupied with the map he had spread on Sasuke's bunk.

"I could lose it here." He jabbed the long scribepaper with a spoon. "That canyon bends blind. I'll be glad to know it's coming."

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully. "The ruggedness of the range is one reason they still use the retreat. Supposedly it can't be approached lowlevel from that direction."

A yellow light began to pulse on the console. "Fifteen minutes to final deceleration," Naruto said.

Sasuke found the g-suits and tossed him one. "Thanks." He caught it one-handed. The boy pulled on his own, secured the fore cargo hatches, and strapped himself in. Naruto had finished aft and already sat at his station. "Snug the harness a touch past what you'd normally use. I'm going to use the ship's maximum tolerance."

Sasuke smirked.

The final seconds counted off on the break indicator, and then the little craft's engines reversed with a roar. Thrown with painful pressure against the wide black webbing, Sasuke glimpsed Otogakure's majestic arc as Naruto leaned forward and made a course correction. _How can he do it_? he wondered as the Jounin pressed back to the seat. Sasuke could scarcely move. He had never tried to take approach orbits at such stiff deceleration.

The cabin heated palpably with atmospheric entry as the sky gradually lightened to blue around them, and they crested the pole in final orbit. Still decelerating hard, but within normal tolerance, Naruto dropped the craft to lowlevel and skimmed the icy surface as it began to glow in the predawn light. The far northern winter's ferocious storms soon would have made this approach impossible even for Naruto Uzumaki.

Thankfully, the ride absorbed all Sasuke's concentration, leaving no mental effort to spare for Orochimaru or the Tenojin project.

Like a skim-boat on open sea, the ship rose and fell with the passes of the ice-locked range. The wild canyon turn came and went too quickly for fear.

"There it is." He pointed ahead. Uchiha Mountain, separated by a short ridge from Naka Mountain, filled the horizon, continuing to grow until they settled gently into the snow as near the ridge as the pitch of the slope would allow. Naruto cut the atmospheric engines and silence rang loudly in Sasuke's ears.

They unbuckled and stretched. Naruto moved aft, which was now downhill. From the cargo area, he pulled two dark gray suits and handed one up to Sasuke. "Thermal controls on the left wrist."

He nodded and turned around, slipped out of the gravity suit and shipboards, and stepped into the heavy pants. After struggling with the shirt, he joined them at the waist. The suit didn't hang too badly. The shirt collar fit high and snugly, the sleeves ended in skin-thin gloves. He touched a small flexible panel on the wrist and immediately began to shiver. _That's not it_. He touched a different corner. Warmth flowed through hands, feet, and body.

"Have you figured it out?" Naruto came up beside him and eyed the panel.

"Comfortable?"

"A little too warm."

"Leave it that way."

Sasuke slipped back into his boots, then buckled on the gunbelt and tucked the stinger under it. As he slipped the knife into his boot, Naruto opened the outer hatch. Frigid air swirled into the cabin.

He took the drillcloth pack and jumped down, then waited in the snow as Naruto sealed the hatch, perching on the tilted doorplate and clinging one-handed to the security handle. Gracefully he leaped down to her side and took the pack.

"I'll spell you carrying that," he offered.

"The best way to work as a team is for each of us to do what he does best. Let me do the hauling. All right, Your Highness?"

Sasuke would have bristled at the title if he hadn't been in such a good mood. Slinging his pack forcibly into Naruto's already full shoulders, he grinned. "Go ahead then, _General_."

Naruto laughed and stumbled with the weight, giving Sasuke a look that compelled him to take back his own pack. He smiled, and Naruto headed up the slope across thin-crusted snow. Boot-top high, it made slow going, particularly for a man carrying a pack as heavy as that one.

"We're leaving tracks," Sasuke observed.

"We won't have to worry about it, going down the other side. Southern exposure." He plodded ahead of him, breaking trail. Sasuke's heart pounded with the altitude and unaccustomed exercise, despite his recent weeks of training. They skirted the summit on the westward side of the ridge, where the wind picked up and roared stiffly. Here, the snow had been blown away, and they began to make faster progress.

The view southward into staggered lines of rocky foothills lifted his spirits, but they dropped down quickly to avoid presenting recognizable silhouettes to any watching eyes.

About ten meters below the ridge, Sasuke stopped for a breath. Behind him, Naruto whistled softly.

Naka Shrine lay below on a stony knoll. The house itself, built of the granite of the mountain, was designed like a small hexagon atop a larger one; from the southern foothills, an ancient, winding road approached, and from the north a switchbacking stone lane led up from a box canyon, which ran east and west and concealed the airstrip. The knoll was ringed by a venerable stone outwall etched by lichens and the slow years of wild weather, and within the pale lay informal grounds, often battered by wind and snow, sheltered somewhat by the forested shoulder of Naka Hill on the west.

"From the air," he whispered, "it would look like part of the mountain."

Sasuke smiled smugly. "That's why your recon flights haven't picked it up."

Naruto caught the pride with which Sasuke spoke and shook his head. "You really need to pick a side here, kid."

Sasuke suddenly burst into laughter despite himself. "I'm sorry. I can't help it. Old habits die hard, right?"

Naruto's mouth twitched helplessly into a grin, and he nodded assent. Gesturing down the mountain, he took the first steps downward toward Naka Shrine.

A moment later and Sasuke was glad for the thermal suit and stiff hided boots as they picked a way down slick, frosty rubble and scree toward the woods. Underfoot, little alpine plants clung to pockets of soil, turning to reds and browns with the onset of cold weather. Many glistened, edged leaf by leaf with delicate frost crystals.

Just above the evergreen forest, Naruto stopped and waited for him. He had slowed his pace to scan the Shrine again before they entered the trees. "There." He pointed a gray-gloved hand. "By the south wall. And another beyond the back gate."

His gaze followed the gesture.

"And there's another, walking along the west end of the grounds. See them?"

He nodded. "Three guards on morning duty."

"And infrared scanners we can't see. I think we'd better try that side tunnel, Naruto. It's farther to walk, but the house is too well covered."

"Lead on."

An hour's trudge took them up onto Naka Hill, but at the entry site they found a huge jumbled pile of stone.

"Shit," Sasuke exclaimed softly. "They've blocked it. Recently, too." He eyed the crushed vegetation, still green.

High above him, Naruto peered down from the top of the rockpile. "We could only get in this way if we used explosives." He step-jumped down to join Sasuke. "We should conserve them for the laboratory."

"Then, it's back to your idea."

"Infrared alarms do sometimes fail. If I can shoot out the one over the service doors, we might have time to get in before they reactivate and check it."

"You're the marksman, then. I couldn't do it," Sasuke admitted grudgingly. He didn't like being reminded of inferiority, despite Naruto's Jounin nature.

The blonde man dug into the pack and handed Sasuke two food cubes, and he crunched them dry. "Here." He dropped two more small, hard lumps into his hand.

_Okashi? Again? _

Sasuke made a small face. "This seems like an inappropriate time to be teasing, Naruto."

Smiling helplessly, Naruto retrieved the small candies and popped them both into his mouth. "Payback," he winked.

Sasuke shook his head and shouldered the pack again, turning back down the hill.

They walked in silence, just to the right of a bare chute scoured clean of trees by avalanches. Sasuke smelled wood smoke, and the afternoon sky over the treeless swath was purest autumn blue.

As he watched a hunting hawk soar on the air currents, a roaring streak of silver sliced the sky. Instinctively he ducked into the trees.

Naruto joined him, hands on his shoulders. "It's an active place, all right." Peering back, he saw tiny smile lines around the blue eyes. Naruto's apprehension must have run its course; he looked almost eager for a confrontation. That made Sasuke grin wickedly in newfound anticipation.

In a copse of barren, prickly bushes they rested out the afternoon, and they moved down at dusk. The high wall, once worked elegantly smooth, now wore the cracks of antiquity, and here and there stones had fallen, affording Sasuke all the footholds he needed after Naruto boosted him. Lying flat atop the wall for a moment, he could see the lights of Naka Shrine off through the trees, warm yellow in the lower windows and dim blue above. A scent of roasted meat on the faint breeze made his mouth water. Convinced that no one was near, he slipped down inside, rested his feet on the heavy iron handrail that circled the wall within (installed centuries ago by an elderly monarch), and then jumped backward, down to the ground. Naruto was soon beside him, in the manicured tip of the evergreen forest.

When they reached its end, Sasuke could see clearly into the kitchens. Lights still burned brightly, and white-gowned cook-staff hurried back and forth in front of the southwest-facing windows. He turned to Naruto, who stood in deep shadow behind another resin tree. He made no sign.

Sasuke looked up, startled by the almost-starless twilit sky: Otogakure was a splendid recluse in the galaxy. The brightest points of the faint, familiar constellations of home winked down at him as he hid and waited. He spotted Suna in the Whorl, twinkling near Senju, the smallest of Otogakure's three moons. It looked somehow different now. He had lived under that star as a sun.

The kitchen lights went out. Sasuke looked quizzically at Naruto.

He shook his head, and they waited in stillness a few minutes longer. Slow, even footsteps approached and the guardsman passed, vanishing around a broad corner.

Naruto flung himself prone and steadied his blaster on one hand.

He took a deep breath. Then another.

Then he touched the stud. A single flash fled out the corner of Sasuke's eye. He waited a moment longer, until Naruto beckoned and led out at a run.

Sasuke kept close behind, flattening beside the kitchen door as Naruto tried the handle. The iron latch clicked as it released. He opened the huge wooden slab just a bit, but before they could steal through, it ground on its hinges. Naruto froze.

Sasuke bit his lip. Naruto made no further movements, but Sasuke was impatient. He pressed up and pulled the door outward a little farther, then motioned Naruto inside.

The great kitchens stood empty, lit only by cracks below the inner doors. They followed the outer wall left a few feet to the kitchen store.

Naruto zipped the gloves off his suit, then knelt and pressed an open hand to the lockbox at waist level. Sasuke watched curiously. In a moment, he heard another quiet click inside the mechanism. Naruto pushed the door open. They squeezed into the pantry and closed the heavy panel behind them. A dim, pale green light sprang up beside him: Naruto's pocket luma. The tiny glowing cube illuminated a ghostly green sphere around them as they threaded their way between shelves of foodstuffs and cooking equipment.

At the end of the pantry, a palmlock guarded the cellar stairs. Naruto dropped again to his knees. "Wait—let me try," Sasuke said. He pocketed his own gloves and pressed his bare right palm to the panel.

The door slid away.

Sasuke shrugged and laughed softly. "Well. They didn't change the locks."

He led stealthily around the wedge-shaped stone steps that widened into the tunnel system, where the cool air made his face tingle. After circling once, Sasuke could see an orange glow beneath. Naruto pocketed the little luma. Sasuke steadied himself with his fingertips on the left wall. In a few steps more he came out in a short alcove that led to a cross-tunnel. Its left branch passed eastward, toward the area they'd agreed to check first, but Sasuke remembered a large chamber at the center of the system that would have to be crossed if they traversed this level. Naruto motioned him to remain in the dark stairwell. He had drawn his blaster. Stealthily he walked forward into what seemed an unnatural brightness, then disappeared left.

Sasuke edged along the right wall to the end of the shadow, drew his own blaster, and waited. Naruto returned, shaking his head. Silently he pointed the other way. They scurried down the right branch, then made another quick right turn, down into the darkness under the Shrine.

After they had spiraled down another smooth stone stair past the second level, he stopped. "He's here," he whispered.

"Orochimaru?"

"Yes. And Kabuto. There were men in the main chamber, talking. I didn't catch much, but that confirms it all."

"There are so many rooms along that chamber, it would've been risky to cross it anyway. Let's go without the light, as long as we can still make time."

Edging downward in total darkness, Sasuke found Naruto's firm handhold reassuring. The wall vanished beneath his skimming fingers. "Here," he said softly. "Eastbound."

Sasuke led completely now. As they drew on, a yellow glow grew stronger.

At last Naruto whispered, "Stay here," and crept on alone. Sasuke watched in the dim light, a little aggravated at being left behind. Naruto paused, listening with some chakra sense, then went on.

Straining his ears, Sasuke heard footsteps from the west. One set, perhaps two.

"Naruto!" he called in a penetrating whisper. But before he could join Sasuke, he drew and fired toward the steps.

There was a surprised shout from up the corridor, and then silence. An afterimage of his blaster glowed faintly in Sasuke's eyes. "Quick!" he said. "There's a guard up ahead, and he's certain to have heard."

They sprinted back westward, silent on muffle-soled boots. A north-branching corridor left the straight hall. "Here," breathed Sasuke. He turned right in the dark and plunged downward only moments before laser fire lit the passage.

This tunnel's floor was more broken. Naruto tripped after only a few steps. Sasuke heard the scuffle as he caught the Jounin, then suddenly the luma sprang to life. Again Sasuke pushed himself to a run. The faint greenish glow made his hands look sickly and pale but sped their progress around the long eastward curve toward the main northbound tunnel. Several side passages led off into blackness. Their shadowy depths mocked the intrusion of light, faint though it was. Here and there, mineral crystals caught the emerald light and glittered eerily.

Once the curve had been put behind them, protecting them from following fire, they stopped to rest.

Panting, Sasuke leaned against a smooth spot on the wall. "Unfortunately, now they know someone's here. If they split three ways they can have us like slinks in a tree."

Naruto was listening again. "No one's coming."

"He's reporting, then. Now we worry about gas."

"Would we have an hour to rush the east branch?"

"Probably not," he said. "But we have those oxygen sniffers. And there are several side ways between here and the airstrip lane. One is that spur that leads up under Naka Hill. The gas they use is heavy, and we'd be up out of danger, temporarily at least. But it's a dead end now. If they trap us in there, we're caught."

"No, we could blow our way out. But we'd lose our chance at the Tenojin lab. I do have an idea..." He killed his luma. "Get down."

Sasuke dropped onto the passageway floor and pressed against the wall, fumbling for his blaster. He could see nothing. Nearby a stealthy step broke the stillness.

Then another, quieter yet. Sasuke held his breath. Then rocks, blaster, and Naruto gleamed crimson as he fired.

Sasuke heard him breathe deeply, and the luma shone again, held high in his left hand as he aimed steadily up the tunnel. Cautiously, he got back to his feet.

"I felt something alive back there," he whispered. No sound flowed down the shaft toward them. Naruto slipped him the luma and backtracked warily up into blackness.

When he came again, he shook his head. "There's no body. But I don't feel it anymore."

"Something from down one of those side passages?"

"Does anything live down there?"

"I don't think so. But they used to tell us monster stories that kept me awake for nights on end when I was a kid. Is it safe to go?"

"Wait a minute." He pulled Sasuke back.

"You said you have an idea."

"I have," he whispered. "It's risky."

"It couldn't be riskier than waiting for the gas. What is it?"

"To split up. You should get uplevel, out of the danger of gas, and go for the researchers. If they're down here in the tunnels, they'll have to evacuate too. I'll hide and go into chakra-induced-sleep. Once the worst of the gas clears out, I'll use the sniffers and take the lab."

Sasuke stiffened suspiciously. "This is something you'd thought of already, I think."

"Yes—and no. It was always a possibility, but I hoped we wouldn't have to try it. You will be in particular danger if we separate."

"I can take care of myself. I know Orochimaru pretty well and the Shrine even better."

"But can you kill?"

"Naruto—of course I—"

"Face to face?" He pressed Sasuke's hand. "Not from a ship?"

"Naruto," Sasuke said patiently, puffing his emotional stability so Naruto could acutely feel it. "With your knowledge of my memories, you should know the answer to that question. I'm no stranger to death." With the repressed anger he'd felt his entire life flooding to the surface, he bit out, "Look what they've done to my home! The guards, the Akatsuki, they're aware of it too. I won't let them destroy us."

"And others whom you knew? Your family, Sasuke? To protect yourself and your mission?"

"I'll do it— The only trick will be getting into the tubes." Sasuke cast a glance behind him and missed the admiration shimmering in Naruto's eyes. Shipboard, they had discussed the hydraulic network, drilled through granite walls in a previous century to carry solar-heated water into bathing rooms, kitchens, and lower-level labs. As a child Sasuke had found the abandoned hollow system, far wider than the pipes it held, and explored it over a series of summers: it had made an ideal hiding spot from Orochimaru (something he frequently needed). Painstakingly he had cleared away obstructions until he could negotiate the entire system, and he had kept it his own secret in this secret place. Assuming he had not put on too much weight, he should still be able to use it.

"Listen, then," Naruto said. "Dispatch the researchers quickly and without worrying for me. Chakra-induced-sleep is a skill I have learned for just this kind of need. Figure three hours for the gas to clear enough, if they use it. Allow me roughly an hour to lay charges—starting now, if the air stays good—then half an hour to get clear enough to detonate them. In an hour and a half I'll send off a quest-pulse homed on your feelings, as I did on Suna. If you're through and off the Shrine, concentrate on something strongly pleasing when you feel that probe, and I'll touch off the charges. Get to the breakway strip down in the canyon and get a plane ready while I'm on my way. If you're not clear when you feel my call, answer with fear. I'll feel it and come for you." He opened a side pocket of the black pack while he spoke. "If something happens to me..." He handed Sasuke one tiny touch activator card. "I'll carry the pack in as close as I can to the lab and arm the charges before I go under. Blow them if I don't call."

Sasuke touched it with one finger and drew away, shaken by his trust. "But you'd be too close to...it won't come to that, Naruto."

"It could. Could you do it?"

"I..." Sasuke swallowed. "You'd want me to?"

He nodded grimly.

_This damn Jounin!_ Sasuke thought, incensed. _**Forces**__ me to care for him and then asks me to dispatch him without a second thought! _

"You… _dobe_!" Sasuke whispered, shutting his eyes. "Yes, I can do it."

Naruto smiled. "Is that going to be your nickname for me then?"

"If you were half as stupid in your youth as you're being now, then you deserve it!"

"All right, all right," He slipped the card into Sasuke's hip pocket. "I know you can do it. Remember Ame."

Sasuke didn't respond, unconsciously touching the activation pad with nervous fingers.

Within the hour, they cautiously approached the main tunnel north to the airstrip. Sasuke peered out into its luminous breadth: brightly lit by everburners imbedded in glossy black walls, its floor had recently been scored by vehicular traffic. Even Naruto sensed no one nearby.

Sasuke met his eyes for what he knew might be the last time. "Thank you for everything, Naruto. I hope it works."

The Jounin took the boy slowly in his arms. "Until we meet, Sasuke. Wherever it is." He kissed him, began to draw away, then reached for him again. Sasuke gripped him, aching, wishing uselessly that their paths had crossed in peaceful, trustful times. He savored what could be their last, lingering kiss and felt that strange approval Naruto had given him that first day in the fields of Suna. With a rush it ripped through him in a desperate, stoking fury that the boy couldn't help but moan into. Latching onto the strong powerful shoulders with each of his hand, as if attempting to imbed the feeling of Naruto into his skin, Sasuke whispered another farewell into Naruto's ear.

Slowly, obviously pained, the Jounin stepped away. "Start timing now. You'd better hurry."

Sasuke nodded numbly and turned without looking back, heading upward at a quiet jog. The lane was as still as a tomb, and he knew it could soon be his—if the gas came before Naruto could cause a little trouble.

When Sasuke reached the first level, the tunnel ended in a chamber just east of the main hall. He remembered a maintenance hatch in there, the nearest access to the hydraulic tubes. Drawing his blaster, he inched out into the chamber, listening hard. Elevators pulsing, a distant shout, his own heartbeat: he heard nothing immediately threatening, so took half the ten meters to the opposite wall at a dead run.

At a clatter of bootsteps off to his right, he dropped, rolled, and came up shooting. A black-collared figure fell heavily, and Sasuke realized with grim satisfaction that he'd taken down one of the Akatsuki, a short male, though Sasuke could make out no other distinct features in the dim light. He dashed to the floor-level access panel, knelt, and began popping out tracker bolts. The smooth rectangular slab loosened in his fingers. Meticulously he slid one edge outward, lifting as he moved it, leaving no scratch-marks on the black stone floor of the chamber. Then he squeezed himself into the hollow beyond. Two white polymer pipes ran up and down along one side of a shaft that could have held eight—had been intended for eight, he guessed. It was snug, particularly at shoulders and hips, but he fit. As he pulled the panel home, voices echoed out in the chamber.

Extending his arms, he grabbed one pipe, wedged his feet against opposite sides, and shinnied upward in utter darkness as quickly as he could.

The tube lay wrapped in silence. Thick stone dampened all sound above, below, and on all sides. Not even the occasional scuttering of small, trapped creatures livened the hollow tonight. He wrenched himself upward another three arm-lengths, then rested a minute.

Naruto. With a pang, he twisted his wrist and checked the lights on his wristband. He had already used fifteen minutes. He must hurry.

But the tube was slow going, particularly after he wriggled over into a horizontal cross-passage. At one point it narrowed so tightly that he had to shimmy back a meter, ease out of the heavy thermal shirt and pants, and push them along ahead of him, shivering and collecting scratches from the cold granite, until he passed the constriction. After that, he struggled back into the garments but left them unfastened, and soon he was glad he had done so. Three more times, he needed to shed every millimeter.

Finally, scraped and bleeding, he judged that he had nearly reached the easiest and safest place to pass into the house. Another five minutes' creeping put him at the end of the northward hollow with an upward passage directly overhead: once, it had held the feed tube to the collectors. Trying not to stir a deep pile of dust and small skeletons at the bottom of the drop, he worked himself up into a standing position, then patted the wall for a very small crack between stone and concrete.

After a minute's search he located the crack, and then the widest prying spot, two hands lower than he expected. He had grown since first finding it. Wedging two fingers inward, holding the concrete panel tightly, he pushed a centimeter and then waited, listening. Just past this wall had been a deep, walk-in closet used primarily by staff. No light came through the opening, so he pushed gently again, meeting a bit of gentle resistance. Sorted linens, he hoped. He gave it another shove.

The wardrobe was silent, but shouting and heavy running steps echoed in the halls. Cautiously he crept out into the dark, north-facing bedroom.

Movement caught his eye: the hall door was slowly opening. He dashed across the room toward the inner wall and pressed behind the door's path of swing. He saw the shadow cast by the hall light before he heard him: another Akatsuki member, slinking toward the open wardrobe door.

Sasuke drew the energy pistol. One silent shot left the man dead—and Sasuke armed with another specialty blaster. He dragged the body into the wardrobe and then crept out into the yellow-lit hall. The sound of footsteps sent him dashing for a utility room on the inner wall. Someone passed by and out of hearing. He tiptoed on, zigzagging between inner and outer rooms. What a stroke of luck Orochimaru had not thought to reprogram the palmlocks against him! Undoubtedly the Akatski thought they had secured these rooms already.

Behind the fourth outer door he heard two voices he'd been straining for: Orochimaru's finest researchers, Himura Togeki and Jool Renka, both bitterly complaining about having been dragged from their beds down-level. Sasuke smiled grimly. If they'd just gone to sleep in that extra room, they'd have been much harder to find. He checked the blasters: fully charged, both of them. He knew he wasn't much of a shot left-handed, but it would look impressive.

Sasuke pressed his palm to the slick black panel and heard the latch release, re-secured his grip on the blazers, and then, flinging the door wide, he went in shooting.

**Relatively short chapter but an update is an update. Shit's about to get real in the next chapter! Things are going too smoothly… wouldn't you say? Hehehe. You know how much I like bribes. Perhaps I won't be too mean to our dear heroes if I receive a little incentive, hmm?**

**PS. There's a new image option with these damn stories now. If anyone out there is so inclined, I BEG OF YOU, would you draw something that would suit this story, so I can turn it into the icon? I'll give you much Kudos, and I'd certainly find other ways to make it worth your while!**

**Thanks so much, my loves**

**-Certified Goon**


	20. Chapter 19

**Eeerrrmagerrd, haven't updated in so long! I got this craaaazy busy summer job, so that's the reason behind the delay. A thousand apologies. **

**And do enjoy.**

**Chapter 19**

Two shocked faces turned to Sasuke as he placed four silent fire-bolts. The shooting took half a second; he was surprised that the shock of what he had just done didn't stall him. He'd been more bitter than he expected. Sasuke secured the hall door and leaned against it, planning his next move now that the researchers, and half the problem, were already dead. By the low light in the room he could see the folded bodies on two rumpled beds and beyond them three window panels, slatted filters closed, and a windowless outside door. Perfect. No outdoor guard would see him.

Coughing as he searched the scorched, night-robed bodies, he found a blaster in each man's pocket. To his disappointment they carried neither disks nor research papers. Sighing, he steeled himself to slip back out into the hallway and search out Kabuto's location.

_Wait_. A voice from his training spoke up. _Never leave weapons behind enemy lines_. Already he carried more blasters than he could use, but he didn't want to leave Orochimaru's forces any additional arms.

After searching out the blasters once more, he stepped to the outer door, slipped through, and glanced around outside. All the outdoor lights burned fiercely, casting sharp grass shadows on the north leg of the outwall and obscuring the stars, and the still, cold air stung his face. Judging from shouts echoing off stone, the hunt was up—far downhill and to the south. Probably someone had spooked a deer and mistaken it for a human intruder.

He laughed softly and flung two blasters toward the wall, then stepped back inside, coughing again at the scorched-flesh smell in the room. He tucked the guard's blaster into his holster and cycled his own to a fresh charge.

Now for Kabuto, the prime researcher.

Silently he inched out into the hallway. Halfway to the next room he heard running feet on the shortweave carpet, both ahead and behind. He sprinted for the next doorway, holding the blaster loosely to palm the panel quicker. The footsteps became louder.

Sasuke slipped into the crack of the doorway but knew instantly that the running Akatsuki had seen the door slide shut behind him. Cursing his own slowness, Sasuke prepared quickly for the worst. From the footsteps dashing to the door, he counted four, maybe five Akatsuki. He swallowed and pushed fear of inevitable capture down. His only option was a quick fire scenario, in which he could catch as many men in his blaster bolts as possible before making a quick escape.

As the men outside overrode the security lock panel, Sasuke inhaled deeply and retracted both blasters. Two burst inside clumsily and fell to the side with the sound of hissing lasers. The other three— damn, there _were _three— quickly fell back outside the door, firing green laser bolts inside the room. Unable to find complete cover in time, Sasuke hissed violently as one of the blasts struck his left shoulder, pelting him from his feet. When they realized his returning fire had stopped, the three Akatsuki men rumbled inside the room.

Someone grabbed Sasuke's shoulders. He spun toward his assailant and instinctively kicked upward as hard as he could. A strangled cry and a heavy thud sounded behind him as he wheeled away from the runner ahead and almost smashed his nose on a wood-inlaid wall. Rebounding, he tripped on a flailing arm and nearly fell. His loss of balance was enough time for the additional two Akatsuki to lay sharp, clawing hands on each of his arms, but Sasuke, despite the pain in his jarring limb, quickly ran his feet up the nearby wall, collapsing behind him with all his weight upon the two men. They roared in dismay then gasped at the boy's body atop theirs. Sasuke scrambled to his feet, the hall before him empty.

From behind, he was knocked soundly on the back of the skull. The blow sent black stars into his eyes, and he lost all footing, tumbling to the floor. Instantly there was a knee on his back and sharp pressure against the base of his skull. "Release the gun," ordered a deep voice above him. "Then take your hand away."

He spat in rage but could do nothing else. Reluctantly he abandoned the blaster and lay still, breathing quickly. The knee shifted. A well-kept, slender hand descended into his field of vision and removed the weapon. The weight lifted. Footsteps retreated across the passage, and then he heard the voice again. It seemed vaguely familiar.

"Now. Get up. _Slowly_." Sasuke complied, facing the dark wall. "Hands on your head." He locked his fingers on top of his head and waited. "Turn around."

Sasuke, still seething, came slowly around to face him—them. Two Akatsuki in dark robes stood before him: the smaller—a very young, dark-haired, and thin female—held Sasuke's blaster trained on him; and the ever blank-face Captain Nagato, stood impassive and stone cold in the dim lighting. The third man, the one Sasuke had kicked smartly in the face, rose to his feet, rubbing his nose angrily. He was blonde, one lock of pale hair hanging fitfully into his left eye. Suddenly the man's expression changed to utter confusion and supreme embarrassment.

"Your Highness?" He shook his head. "I beg your pardon! Why are you—"

"Wait a minute," the female interrupted. "That's not Orochimaru."

Sasuke felt bile rise in his throat at being compared with that worm-ridden _filth _he called cousin, despite the fact that he'd known them as Prince Sasuke. He had no doubt they'd all overseen his punishments at one time or another. He stood extremely still, eyeing the woman's firing finger and wondering if he would have time to draw his second hidden blaster while they stood baffled.

But Nagato smiled sinisterly. "Well, Sasuke. You came back after all. Call His Highness uplevel, Konan."

As the third man drew a shining blue and gold blaster— blatantly ornamental but just as deadly as the service model Nagato had taken—the young woman hurried into the next room. He heard her voice. "My Lord, we've captured the intruder. I doubt you'll believe it if I tell you now, sir." A brief pause. Sasuke could feel the woman's gaze on the back of his head. "Yes, it's Sasuke. We're bringing him up now."

On a deeper level of awareness he felt Naruto's sudden, distant touch. The Jounin would know he was caught, then.

The woman strolled back into view, toneless face eyeing him uncertainly. Sasuke absently wondered if she was somehow conflicted, imprisoning a member of the royal family, a family their ancestors had sworn to protect until their line diminished. He glanced from her to the blonde man to Nagato, weighing his chances of escape—very slight at the moment, even with the blaster and the hidden stinger. He would have to play along until Naruto could finish his own work. Even the Hokage would need some time yet.

The blonde man rocked on his heels. "Uplevel, right Konan? His Highness's room?"

The woman nodded.

Nagato eyed Sasuke with strange, round irises. "Tie him."

"Why?" the blonde man complained.

"I know this boy. Do you want His Highness down your throat for losing a prize like the Third Prince? Tie him."

Hastily the blonde man rushed forward, binding Sasuke in steel bands, familiar bands that unconsciously had Sasuke's heart pounding in his chest. How many countless times had he been bound by these same people?

Sasuke forced himself to submit, keeping his calm. He had to make time for Naruto.

Sasuke's flash of fear had torn through Naruto and had neither cut off nor diminished. He dropped all shields, to be able to hear him—or the presence of guards. Leaning against the rough stone, he sent off the quest-pulse and let the boy's feelings flood him. Defiance radiated from his emotional matrix with the fear.

Caught, then. But not yet threatened, and apparently not tempted to buy his life by betraying him to Orochimaru. Those had been Naruto's only earnest fears: that Sasuke'd be killed before they knew whom they'd taken, or that the boy's soul hid a deeper loyalty to Otogakure than he knew. Sasuke _had _hidden Naka Shrine from him.

Hefting the pack, Naruto headed up to search out the laboratory. Five minutes later he reached the main lane and paused to "listen" again. No one was near—and Sasuke

remained fearful, but was more controlled now, and still safe. He drew his blaster and jogged up the main lane, following the way Sasuke had come. Where it ended in the bare chamber he turned left, hurried up a short passage, and stopped dead.

Before him rose a huge metal guardwall, its edges sealed to the stone. Light from an everburner behind his shoulder reflected off a satiny surface that looked incongruously modern in these ancient halls. His senses remained silent, except for the distant disquiet of Sasuke's feelings.

He turned inward to focus a probe point, then sent it on the chakra wave behind the locking panel. Humming circuitry surrounded his point of awareness; the sensation prickled like attacking insects. Up one course he found the resonating chamber of an alarm horn; a little further on, a high-voltage conduit connected back into the palmpanel's outer edges. It would deliver a fatal shock were the wrong person to touch it.

Naruto did not need contact. Cautiously he traced the tangled circuitry into the confirmation box. At that point, a proper handprint would be recognized, an improper rejected. He gave the point a nudge of energy.

The monstrous wall slid aside. Naruto stepped through the opening. Another pulse closed it behind him.

He looked around, gripping his blaster at loose ready. The corridor curved toward the right, walled in old stone. Along the left waited several doors, all closed.

He pressed against the wall beside the first door, out of sight of anyone within. Still feeling no warning presence, he opened it, then peered into darkness. Cautiously he slipped inside. Even using the tiny luma, it took a minute's careful groping to locate a light switch. He waved it on.

A glass wall gleamed halfway across the stone chamber. Beyond robot controls, waldo hands drooped in electronic sleep. Past them lay a metal form, long and fat, an ominous shape he knew well. With a delicate tendril of energy he probed the warhead's circuits. Yes, it was one of the outmoded nuclear killers—at its heart. What then made it such a reputedly formidable—?

Tenojin.

He thought he understood when he noticed the dull sheets of metal stacked alongside the half-plated bomb. Within the protection of that hardened glasteel wall, a layer of Tenojin could be wrapped entirely around the warhead and sealed in place by the mechanical arms. He did not understand—neither the Tenojin nor other changes in the warhead's circuitry, for these were outside his field of expertise—but he would remember. The warhead itself was extremely small; undoubtedly the key to the weapon lay in the sealed launching compartments near its nose. Something would be released with detonation.

What? The circuits offered no clue.

Naruto slid off the backpack, carefully planning an operation more delicate than he'd anticipated. Setting off the wrong explosives, too near, might detonate the monster and its kin, atomizing the granite mountain and sending a cloud of Tenojin into the planet's atmosphere.

In the second room he found a typical office setup, its bluescreen left on. From a safe distance he fiddled with its circuitry, but it would tell him no secrets in the little time he felt he could spare. With a burst of focused chakra he surged all its circuits; if he were caught and his work halted, that stroke alone would slow Orochimaru.

He rested a minute while his chakra rebuilt, then moved on.

The third room held a number of huge, shielded crates, a shelf lined with desiccator jars and several flasks of green liquid: the air smelled oddly marine. Wrinkling his nose, he stepped back into the corridor and laid the pack on the ground.

Carefully he began distributing charges: nothing into the rooms containing nuclear materials, an incendiary onto the office chair. In the hallway he eyed the supporting walls of stone, and then, charge by slim charge, created a hidden line in the cracks that would bury the access under meters of blasted granite. He laid a second line up the center of the hall.

_Had Sasuke found Kabuto or the other researchers_? he wondered as he laid the largest structural charge alongside the huge metal door. At that moment the shriek of a whistle tore shrilly through the tunnel. An alarm—why so late? A signal to evacuate? Sasuke's distress was coming through more urgently now.

The empty pack lay like a rumpled black pillow at his feet. Carefully he pulled out the remaining touchcard and slid it into a pants pocket, then extended a probe through the guardwall's circuits and nudged it open.

Just ahead, a uniformed man hurried up from the main lane and turned away through the chamber: he was moving at just the angle to catch Naruto in his peripheral vision, and was just too far away for voice-command. Naruto went for his blaster. The guard halted, squeezed off a wild burst, then fled around the stone corner.

Naruto let him go and slipped down a black side tunnel, hoping to find a cranny where he could safely enter chakra-induced sleep.

Sasuke had stepped off the lift between his captors into the spacious master room on the topmost floor of the Shrine, just under a roof turret. Loud, excited talking in the room suddenly stopped.

Sasuke glanced around. The master room's odd shape had always fascinated him, but there had been changes made. In contrast with the utilitarian tunnels below, Orochimaru had made this room shine, from springy red carpet to crystal-tiered chandelier. Even the black marble console and long, bare, metal-topped table shone like mirrors. Sasuke counted almost twenty familiar people standing along the walls, below a row of formal portraits. Many of Orochimaru's friends were gathered here, older sons and daughters of the ten noble Houses. Among several House Guards and Akatsuki he spotted Captain Tomoe by his height and black hair—how had he beat him back from Suna? Where was Marshal Nakahara? Apprehensively he searched the crowd.

His gaze rested instead on Roushi Younbi, who stood under a long window, all but licking his lips with anticipation, tiny eyes narrowed to dark slits. His stomach curdled. Younbi had not Naruto's strength, but Sasuke thought he knew exactly what Roushi wanted.

Orochimaru himself, in the flowing dress robes of High King, parted the line of people and walked slowly and regally toward him.

"You!" The scornful word rang in the silent room. "What—are—you—doing—here?"

Sasuke stood silent, unmoving, eyeing Captain Tomoe, who approached with a twinbeam blaster at the ready.

Orochimaru drew himself up and shouted in that hissing voice. "Otogakure subjects, I introduce the Federacy's newest citizen. Cousin, Lord Sasuke." He turned to Nagato. "I just had a second report from downlevel, not half a minute ago. Togeki and Renka are dead."

Behind Sasuke, a woman squealed. "No!"

Orochimaru folded his hands and held them tightly against his chest. "Yes. Was he armed?" The blonde Akatsuki stepped up and handed Orochimaru the blasters. "You searched him, of course?"

"No, Your Highness." Sasuke heard a note of chagrin in the female Akatsuki's voice.

"Then, do it now," Orochimaru commanded icily. "Do it right. And if he moves—strip him!"

Nagato tonelessly moved in. Sasuke's flesh crawled as he began to pat down the thermal suit. He kept his eyes on Orochimaru's face, diverting his awareness from Nagato's examining fingers and the burning urge to strike him. Clutching the braces tying his wrists with his fingers, he willed himself motionless. He knew Orochimaru well enough to believe in that threat—and he was well aware of Nagato's appetite for Misslings. The impending death of his victim woke something ugly in the Akatsuki captain; Sasuke saw it in his eyes as he slid his hands up one leg. He _wanted _him to strike out.

Once Konan and the nearest House Guards saw that he did not kick at Nagato, they too approached, each seeking into a pocket. Konan found the touchcard and showed it to Orochimaru. "Your Highness."

"Explosives," he hissed. "I expected as much." He seized the panel. "You have a friend down there, I presume? One who kept some of the gear?"

Sasuke did not speak. Naruto could well have armed those charges by this time, but surely Orochimaru would not risk destroying his precious Tenojin lab by trying a touch pattern.

A House Guard found the stinger, Nagato drew the bootknife, and Konan presented them like offerings to Orochimaru. He gloated over each in turn and then passed them, along with Sasuke's Federate-issue gunbelt, to Captain Tomoe: a tidy pile of damning evidence on the long metal table.

"It is time to carry out your Seppuku Orders, Missling. Loose him." A guard released the bands from his wrists, and Orochimaru smiled smugly as Sasuke straightened the suit with all the dignity he could muster. "First, let's discuss your escort. Who brought you? Is he here now? I'll make it easier for you if you cooperate."

Sasuke merely stared at him, not even tempted to answer. Orochimaru slapped his face, hard. Sasuke reeled away, stunned and stinging. Nagato seized his shoulders and thrust him toward Orochimaru again.

"Who brought you? Where is he now?" he repeated. After a few seconds he slapped Sasuke's other cheek.

Then Roushi Younbi spoke up. "Your Highness, perhaps you would like to have me examine him. His mind should be most fertile ground by now. Furthermore, he and I have a score to settle over a certain encounter on Suna." He took a step forward. "I would enjoy that, Highness."

Orochimaru sniffed. "I see no point in that, Younbi." Sasuke would have smiled had he dared. "We have other sources within the Federacy. And _this _is obvious to me. He has always opposed me on this project, and he's here to destroy it. Clear the tunnels, Tomoe. Get ready to gas them and run the new Guardsman unit—in one minute. I have no time to waste."

Sasuke started, amazed that Orochimaru had not used the gas already. Was the Tenojin project so close to completion that they had begun the final rush toward deployment? How much could Kabuto accomplish alone?

The Captain hastened away as Orochimaru spoke on, running a fingernail along the inside of Sasuke's left arm. "This is delightful, boy. Do you know what it means to me, to be able to have you executed? We can even do it at first light, the proper time for new beginnings. The north wall will be perfect. Don't you agree?" He stopped pacing and sighed. Nagato's grip shifted on Sasuke's shoulders. "I've always wished I could see to this—be certain you died properly, honorably, before witnesses. In fact, just to show that the honor of the family comes first to me, I'll give you a blade now if you wish. But not poison. That's too dignified for you.

"You see"—he turned again to Roushi, who now eyed Sasuke from one side—"there is a sequence of honor among us. Poison and peace for those whose time has come honorably. A blade for penance or last resort. And for the criminal..." He drew back to include Sasuke in his stare. "It may surprise you to hear that we brought a full complement of D-rifles to the Shrine. In such a delicate situation, I wanted to be prepared for treason in the ranks." Smirking, he pointed at Sasuke. "And here you are."

Nagato stroked Sasuke's throat with a damp palm. Orochimaru turned to the nearest House Guard. "Check the rifle charges."

Half sick with dread, Sasuke dug his nails into his hands. The narrow-band D-wave, badly distorted by metal, had been developed for surgery but had to be used with heavy anesthesia: the field built slowly, disrupting cells before disintegrating them, crazing a conscious patient with pain. Therefore Otogakure had adopted the D-rifle for public execution, for which a victim would be stripped to the waist of metallic defenses. If portions of a criminal's body remained to be buried, all the better.

Still, Sasuke stood steadily. First light remained hours away, and, as he had anticipated, Orochimaru wished to wait until long after Naruto would be free to come for him—if such was truly his intent.

Orochimaru seated himself at the long marble desk below the southernmost window and touched a series of panels. Sasuke followed quickly, slipping Nagato's grip. Others, whispering, formed half a circle a few paces behind.

Two visual screens lit, each displaying a three-dimensional image of a stone corridor. Centered on the left screen were the double doors of the elevator shaft. As Sasuke watched, they slid open. A yellow cloud began to spill out, driven by the lift's powerful fans.

Orochimaru gloated up at him. "Last chance, Sasuke."

The boy pressed his lips together. Either Naruto could or could not deal with the gas. He could do nothing now.

Movement on the other screen caught his eye. As the cloud billowed downward, a man in House Guard red and black dashed into range of the wide-angle pickup, eyes down, running hard, a blaster clutched at his side.

"Orochimaru!" Sasuke bellowed, enraged.

The High King shrugged elegantly. "I signaled that there was no time to waste. I can afford to lose a guard or two if it makes the others realize they must take my orders seriously. And actually, this is perfect."

The runner stopped, finally noticing the yellow fumes drifting toward him. Raising horrified eyes to the vis-pickup, he lifted an arm in entreaty and waved the other back down the passage.

Orochimaru laughed. Pale and wide-eyed, Konan glanced away. Nagato, beside Sasuke, grinned.

"Now, then. This is what I wanted you to see. We're fortunate to have a subject in full view." Orochimaru reached forward, dragging his full sleeve on the black marble tabletop. "Tomoe brought me a present when he returned from Suna. 'Sonic Guardsman,' I think they call it. _Federate _technology. Watch." His pale finger touched a small, glossy panel below the screens. Then a second, and a third. An eerie howl rose underfoot.

On screen, the guard's eyes suddenly bulged. He flung his hands to his ears. Orochimaru sighed. "I thought you'd appreciate this, Sasuke. Otogakure is the planet of Sound, is it not? Those three notes induce what I'm told is a ringing in the brain, as if the entire skull were a bell. At any rate, it's quite paralyzing. Fatal, if it goes on too long. All the cranial arteries rupture, one at a time."

Sasuke watched, panic-stricken, as the guard retched, convulsed, and then fell unconscious on the stone. His thoughts ran down to Naruto, in that mess somewhere. He let his emotions spike, anything to signify danger.

The first blast knocked Naruto to his knees and paralyzed his thoughts for two long seconds, while the second and third tones entered in deadly harmony. Pressure mounted around his brain. He dropped on rough stone. As his body curled instinctively into a fetal tuck, he struggled for recollection. He had been trained to endure sonics, long ago: he must shut down blood flow to...

The pain bore deeper, making thought difficult. His chakra began to disrupt. It would not modulate. It must. Must...

"Ah." Orochimaru withdrew his hand from the panel and glared at Sasuke. "You're wondering if your friend is far enough down the tunnel to be safe from this, I'm sure. I had ten men installing relays all through dinner, Missling. The entire system is covered. What admirable timing you've shown. I'd hoped to be able to test it."

As the guard's body vanished into amber fog, Orochimaru turned fully around. "In about fifteen minutes, the entire tunnel system will be flooded with poison gas. If he's only shocked unconscious by the sound waves, the gas will ensure that he dies. Who is it, Missling?"

With an enraged roar, Sasuke lunged for the glossy panels and touched one off, but Nagato heaved him away after a sharp blow to the back of his skull. Orochimaru reactivated the tone. "That's enough. Guards. Restraint table." Five burly uniformed men moved in.


	21. Chapter 20

**In an effort to regain your trust after my extended absence, I present chapter 20. Don't be afraid. I'll finish it, I swear.**

**Chapter 20.**

When Naruto blinked and put a hand to his temple, he knew he had been stunned despite his effort. Silence blanketed the stone; his head pounded viciously. And the smell... foul... he coughed and took a deep gasp. It made him retch.

Far above, Sasuke's fear was mounting. His mind felt fogged now, struggling for lucidity—or was it his own that was sluggish?

_Poison gas_! a corner of his brain shouted from a distance. No, he heard it in Sasuke's voice. _You're breathing it_! _Hurry Naruto!_

Naruto shook himself to full consciousness, aware suddenly. He needed to pass into chakra sleep! Yes, but how deep to send the cycle to time his waking? He turned inward and found his chakra, red-hot inside his body.

Another spasm of coughing shook him.

Suddenly Sasuke's emotions screamed, rousing all his instincts. Screamed—and then faded swiftly to nothing. The emotional silence was complete. Naruto fervently sent a quest-pulse upward. Nowhere could he feel the boy's connatural spirit.

Horror-stricken, Naruto opened one hand from the claw it had formed. He pushed it toward his pocket for the touch activator. His stiff fingers managed to work out the detonation sequence. If he could not achieve sleep, with his last effort he would blow the lab.

They could not have killed Sasuke! Struggling not to breathe, Naruto turned inward for one more attempt at sleep.

-oOo-

Sasuke had struggled frantically, but the guards were too many and too strong. Two caught his hands and dragged him to the metal table; one swept his gear onto the carpet and bent him backward over it. Another House Guard lunged for his feet and received a hard kick in the teeth in his master's service. The next seized both Sasuke's knees and swung him around to lie flat.

An instant later he could not move, but lay staring at the glittering white ceiling, his arms like immovable stone at his sides. The guards' hands pulled away and he lay panting, tears for Naruto stinging his eyes, but he would not let them fall, lest he shame Naruto with his weakness.

"Nicely done," sang a female voice from somewhere he could not turn his head to see.

Close by, Orochimaru's voice held a note of deep satisfaction. "_This _time he's ours." There was silence.

Something splashed into Sasuke's face. It blinded his eyes and made him fight for breath. Brandy, he guessed from the piercing smell and the burning in his throat. He tried to spit, could not move even his head, and had to swallow. Only his eyelids responded—and his tongue—and he could slow his breath. Salty tears slowly washed away the stinging liquor.

When he could see, a pink blur resolved into Roushi Younbi's face. Sasuke averted his eyes.

"A toast!" shouted the voice of Captain Tomoe close by. "To Oto!"

"Wait," Orochimaru called. "Kima, bring glasses for everyone. A toast indeed." Sasuke heard clinking and pouring as he blinked out the last of the fire in his eyes. Roushi moved away. "Otogakure!" the shout echoed, followed by a wash of sudden conversation.

Then he heard Roushi, whining again. "Highness ... Your Highness, I sense a presence about your cousin that I do not like."

The hubbub stilled. "Oh?" asked Orochimaru, distant once more. "Explain yourself, Roushi."

"I can't—quite—isolate the nuances. But, Highness, if he came with anyone at all, he came with a Jounin."

Cultured gasps and inhalations hissed on Sasuke's left.

"You need not be concerned if he was trapped in the tunnels," Roushi explained. "But can we afford to risk the possibility that he has not yet entered the Shrine and is keeping a distant contact with this one's mind?"

"What do you recommend, Roushi?" asked Tomoe in a low, menacing voice Sasuke knew well.

"Kill him now," Roushi answered instantly. "Or at least drug him. They can neither touch nor detect the unconscious."

Orochimaru chuckled a little drunkenly. "I have just the thing, Roushi, and right at hand. Konan. Give me your blade."

Light footsteps drew near, then Orochimaru's face.

"Sasuke, you are about to get very, very drunk. Something I don't think you've experienced before. Have you—murderer?" he growled, and Sasuke flinched too late. Another face-full of brandy flooded out his eyesight. Something thin that tasted of metal forced his lips farther apart.

Sasuke cracked one eyelid open, ignoring the burning it caused. Orochimaru's hands held the hilt of a long dagger and a crystal decanter. Fiery liquid splashed along the blade, over his chin and cheeks, and into a fresh cut the dagger had sliced on his lower lip. Enough poured into his mouth to trigger the swallowing reflex. He tried to stop it, to pull his tongue against the back of his throat, but that only made him gulp more when finally he swallowed, a huge choking mouthful. He coughed and heard laughter. Some spewed away, but as soon as he inhaled, more liquor tinged with blood trickled down his throat. He had to gulp again. The coughing tactic worked a second time, but then the swallowing grew easier. Soon he felt muscles relaxing against his urgent wish to come alert.

Distantly, Konan's high tenor spoke soothingly. "He's not going anywhere now. Too much more and you'll poison him."

"Heavens around, we don't want that." Soft laughter rippled through the master room, and the pouring stopped. Orochimaru's face vanished. His voice remained close, however, becoming coy and enticing. "Konan? A thanks gift is in order, I believe. You have made me a happy man today. Perhaps you would like to take this lovely Federate male, as a token of my gratitude."

"Your Highness?" The woman sounded genuinely shocked. "No one but—that is—only..."

Sasuke squeezed his eyes closed, desperately fighting stupor and the agony of being unable to scream aloud.

"Not even if I would particularly like to see it?" Orochimaru asked with a laugh.

Silence. Sasuke could feel drowsy submissiveness taking hold of him too quickly to resist. So much for "the honor of the family."

"No, Your Highness. Truly." All at once, Sasuke for the first time in his life felt gratitude towards an Akatsuki. Konan backed away.

"One more toast, then," Orochimaru shouted. "To Lord Sasuke of the Federacy. May he die like an Uchiha."

A third goblet-full of brandy splashed on Sasuke's face, and he choked as droplets trickled through his nostrils. The struggle to breathe roused him enough to open his eyes a little; a last spark of terror revived him completely. "Now that I have your attention." Orochimaru stood twirling a long, curved leather-stitching needle above Sasuke's eyes. "Where shall I bury this?"

Alcoholic miasma loosened Sasuke's hold on even that fear. Willingly he surrendered to unconsciousness.

-oOo-

Voices in the master room roused Sasuke into a sickening wakefulness with a pounding head and a terrible thirst, still held fast in a restraining field that reeked of stale liquor. The voices faded in and out erratically for what seemed a long time. At last, the sound of footsteps approached. But there was only a single pair. Blinking, Sasuke dimly recognized the dark-haired Akatsuki woman's face. Into his ear, she whispered, "I knew a man once in the palace guard. His name was Kisame. He used to entertain me by telling stories about a Prince named Itachi and his younger brother, the true Uchiha heirs, who were condemned to death to protect the succession. Years later, I met Itachi Uchiha, and I am not ashamed to say that I fell in love with him instantly. You see, he was kinder than the other Uchiha members we were sworn to protect. Kinder than sickly Orochimaru and his little brother. Itachi often spoke with me while I stood vigil beside him, and his voice was that of an angel, his words that of a king." Sasuke's hazy mind flickered in and out, her murmurs growing and then fading in his ears. "When he died," she said in a near whisper, "I felt my heart break."

The Uchiha prince raised unbelieving eyes toward the woman's. Her face was sunken, emotional, and pale. She smiled tearfully down at him. "I could not protect him then, my Lord, but I can do him a service now. Remember: in a den of snakes, you have an ally yet, Sasuke."

"T-thank you," he wheezed softly, both for her words now and for her honorable conduct earlier. Konan nodded, but as the voices in the adjacent room grew louder, she pulled away.

Abruptly the restraining field collapsed, and Sasuke felt himself pulled by the arms to a sitting position—too quickly. He crumpled forward and blacked out.

When the room appeared again he was being shaken, and he fought to stay conscious. Captain Tomoe gripped his shoulders, while four House Guards with weapons ready stood close behind.

Sasuke folded forward again, horribly dizzy, and a pair of guards took his arms, propping him between them. His vision blurred. He blinked hard. He must wake up, he must! In this stupor he could barely think. Only fear came easily.

A long wash of black and purple grew before him, and when it spoke it had Orochimaru's voice. "Awake, Sasuke? Hmm, not quite. I don't suppose you would care to meet our ancestors sozzled, would you?"

Sasuke squinted, and when he saw what Orochimaru held in his pale hand he began to struggle violently. The Guards' hold tightened on him.

Orochimaru laughed merrily. "Ah, yes, you and your needles. But I'm not doing this merely for a moment's fun." He drove the triple silver spike through the thermal suit into Sasuke's shoulder. The boy shrieked in pain and convulsed instantly; he could scarcely breathe for the next minute, paralyzed by the old phobia.

The injection affected him almost instantly. Manda— he recognized the sensory overload—and something more, this time. Within seconds, his head cleared. The pounding in his ears diminished to a soft pulse, while his unstrung muscles tightened suddenly and firmly. He would have tried to fling off the guards, but they secured their grip.

"Feel better?" Orochimaru tossed the medical nightmare onto the metal table beside Sasuke. "You look better. I would hate to let you miss the full thrill of this hour, Sasuke. Now you'll savor every moment—as I shall."

The sensation was incredible: although his cut lip throbbed and burned, he felt as if he could climb Naka Mountain in one leap, throttle all four guards at once— now he understood why Orochimaru had brought up so many of them—or tear the table to pieces with his bare hands. But the injection had heightened his emotions as well, and the sight of one guard's misshapen D-rifle, heavy-chambered with a ceramic point at the barrel's end, aroused a thrill of terror like none he had ever felt. He would momentarily be reduced to a target. He forced his muscles to relax.

Then he caught a glimpse out the east window. "This hour," Orochimaru had said, and the faint glow beyond the hills confirmed that less than an hour remained to him before first light. The pulse in his ear beat quickly, like distant parade drums. He longed to know if Naruto had been found. He could not relinquish the hope Naruto had escaped, but with morning fast approaching and their timetable long used up, if he had not come for Sasuke, he must—could he...

_Naruto_! he roared mentally, flexing every emotion in his body into his cry.

Orochimaru spoke under his breath to Nagato beneath the glowing chandelier. He bent forward and let a little weight rest on his pressure-sensitive feet. "May I have a cup of tea?" Sasuke whispered to the guard clenching his left shoulder. "My mouth is full of dust."

"No." He tightened his fingers. "Be patient. You won't be thirsty for long."

Orochimaru lifted something dark and limp off the bed, crossed the vast room once more, and flung it at Sasuke. A thin black jumpsuit with zipcloth closures landed at his feet. "Put it on," he called. "And don't try anything, or I'll have you stunned and sent out to die naked."

The guards at his shoulders released him and stood, and Sasuke began to peel off the thermal suit's shirt. His scraped shoulders, scabbed to its lining, felt as if they were being combed with knives.

Suddenly his spirit leaped. North wall! On that lawn lay two blasters he had thrown into the night. Metal would distort the disintegration field—if only slightly—and if he could stay free enough to—

Another red-collared House Guard burst through the elevator door, saluting Orochimaru. "We've, caught the other one, Your Highness!"

Sasuke went stiff and rose to his feet. The guards grabbed him again. Orochimaru splayed his fingers in the air. "Was Roushi right? Is it one of _them_?"

The guard drew up even straighter. "Yes, Your Highness. His so-called Excellency, the former Lieutenant Governor."

"What? Uzumaki?" Orochimaru's shoulders sagged, as though he found it too much to believe. Nagato dashed to the lift.

"It certainly is, Your Highness. And he's alive—barely. We took him in the east lab. The gas almost killed him, Highness. He can scarcely walk: I think he's harmless now. The rest of my detail is downlevel, disarming and collecting all the explosives they can find."

"Excellent," Orochimaru breathed. "Oh, excellent. Someone tell Nakahara!"

Sasuke stared through a whirlwind of emotion as he zipped into the jumpsuit. Harmless? Not Naruto. But... but surely they never would have taken Naruto if he hadn't allowed it.

Orochimaru hurried onto the lift and held a hand over the closing circuit. "Bring him. I don't want him out of my sight until it's over."

Yanked forward by the guards at his elbows, and trying to exude meekness, Sasuke boarded the lift.

In the living area, a group of about forty had gathered near the fire-bay, all wearing warm capes and coats except one. Sasuke's heart caught at the sight of Naruto standing at one edge of the crowd, his thick thermal outer shirt stripped off. Heavy-eyed as though barely awakened, he stood unsteadily.

"Naruto!" he gasped desperately, squirming in the guard's grasps.

Nagato bowed deeply and presented Orochimaru a priceless Konoha Bunshin. He seized it and eyed Naruto down his nose. "Good morning, Your Excellency," he mocked. "What a lovely surprise. We have a little ceremony planned in a few minutes, and I would be delighted to honor you beside my cousin."

"Let him go, Your Highness." Naruto's hoarse, weak voice horrified Sasuke. "This is my doing. I'll take the payment."

"You'll both pay, you alien—_filth_." Orochimaru belted the sharp metal edge across Naruto's pale cheek. The Jounin reeled in his guards' arms, and Orochimaru tucked the Bunshin into a pocket of the cape Nagato offered. "Someone check that skin-shirt for metal once more."

Captain Tomoe stepped forward. "Your Highness," he bowed. He examined the undergarment minutely. "Uzumaki. Lieutenant _General _Uzumaki." He drew away. "Your Highness, I've recalled something important. On Suna, when Lord Sasuke renounced Otogakure, one of the Federates claimed he had been living under this man's guarantee of asylum. Furthermore—_good glory_, Your Highness—that oath of his was taken at the tip of _Uzumaki's _sword!"

Orochimaru whirled around, eyes bulging and unbelieving. "Oh, no," he said with a vicious bellow. He eyed Sasuke as if he were worse than grime. "You little _Missling bastard!_ You dare shame our family with…" He stopped, composed himself once more, suddenly smiling. "Never mind, Sasuke. It all begins to come clear now. I think we can draw some conclusions about the source of your intimate knowledge of Otogakure now, Your Excellency. And you, Sasuke." Scornfully, Orochimaru jerked his head toward Naruto. "So _this _was the price of your treason. I should have guessed. Blithering, cock-sucking _sodomite_!"

The entire assembly gasped at the accusation.

"Fuck off, you bastard son of a whore!" Sasuke raged furiously. Again his audience nearly fainted from the shock of such offensive language, but Sasuke reveled, even in the hour of his demise, at how he'd _finally_ called Orochimaru the words that had been tinkling in his head for years. Orochimaru stepped forward with a hiss and slapped the cheeky grin off the boy's face. Sasuke swerved, and his cheek met the marble floors. This new view offered him to look long at Naruto. His skin was pale yellow, red where Orochimaru had struck him; he had taken in a massive dose of the gas. Understanding chilled Sasuke and removed the smile at last.

"Tie him." Orochimaru spat and swirled the cape onto his shoulders. "Where's Nakahara? We can't wait."

Hurriedly one of the hallway guards obeyed, dragging Sasuke to his knees and letting his bound hands fall behind is back. He winced as the changing angle dug the cord into his skin, and looked to Naruto. Sighing softly, the Jounin dropped his gaze from the guard's eyes.

"Move," ordered Orochimaru. He and Nagato led out the massive eastern doors, across the flagstones and left along the winding lane that descended to the airfield.

Sasuke walked the paving beside Naruto, his spirits sinking farther each time the Jounin stumbled, his tightly strung senses jolted by every step. Predawn cold flowed through Sasuke's flimsy jumpsuit like ice water, and he clenched and unclenched his hands to warm them as the road fell from the Shrine. Near the outwall, the procession turned left again onto the long northern field, where grassy, weedy terrain made slower going.

Orochimaru and his entourage dropped behind.

Sasuke spoke softly and hastily. "You all right?" Moving his cut lip felt like meeting the dagger again. Naruto tripped once more, barely catching himself. "You woke me. Thank you."

_Woke him_? Had he heard Sasuke's mental shriek or his terror of Orochimaru's needle? Sasuke quickly glanced back over his shoulder. Orochimaru's people followed in twos and threes, warmly bundled, few speaking. Two carried a long equipment locker between them. A rosy stripe glowed in the pale gray clouds over the spot where the sun was about to rise. "There are two blasters," he whispered, "in the grass near—"

Movement at one corner of his eye silenced him. The guards had caught up, but Naruto's quick-eyed expression hinted at hope. They passed a stake driven into the grass at the customary thirty paces out. Four of the guards halted behind them. He heard weapons clattering and refused to turn and look, but could not stop his stomach from twisting painfully.

At the outwall, two guards knotted the ends of the ropes binding his wrists to the iron handrail, several meters from Naruto.

"I'm placing your hands behind the metal," one said smoothly. "Orders. 'Fingerprints are valuable proof of decease,'" he quoted, almost capturing Orochimaru's tone of voice. "But this isn't so tight that you can't shift them to the front of the rail, if you'd rather have it done cleanly."

Another, finished with Naruto, reached for his black neckscarf. "Do you want a blindfold, Lord Sasuke?"

He shook his head steadily. "No. Thank you." The guards sauntered back to join the firing squad, between Captain Tomoe and Orochimaru. His robes shown like purple jewels among the guards' red berets and the more somber attire of the others.

"One problem," Sasuke muttered. "Our hands."

Shivering, Naruto laughed softly. "The knot is within reach of your right fingers."

Sure enough, a loop, fat and loose, lay inside his left palm. He fumbled with it, trying to force dexterity into swollen, supersensitive fingers. "Why in the world did he put it there?" Blessed freedom! Sasuke stretched enough slack from his bonds to draw his hands through as the peak of Naka Mountain gleamed suddenly orange.

"Are you up to some shooting?" Naruto asked.

"Absolutely." He eyed the rifle squad, taking up formation. "They've given me some sort of stimulant to see that I enjoy this. Maybe I'll enjoy it more than they intended."

Sasuke watched Naruto close his eyes, head bowed, and he tensed, knowing he must gather all the strength he had left.

Nagato strode out in front of the D-rifle line, calling for the crowd to quiet.

Naruto eyed the front line, those crystal blue eyes bright and flecked with orange in the light of the rising sun. In those moments, tattered and ragged, hunched in pain and weariness, he'd somehow never looked more beautiful. "Ready, Sasuke?"

"Naruto," Sasuke whispered.

Naruto glanced his way.

The words that had seemed so impossible to say not days before rolled easily off his tongue._ "I love you."_

**Ermagerd, enda thu chaptuh! Haha, Another cliffhanger? Please, don't hate me! Though honestly, I'd hate me if I were you. In this story, it's the most fucking cliché thing I do, and I apologize for it. I don't even do it on purpose, though! When I write, it ends up like that at the end, and then I realize if I add anymore then my chapter lengths will be sooo long! So I'm sorry!**

**I'm sorry! Q.Q**

**Oh, and I reiterate to any of you artists out there. If anyone can make some kind of icon or fanart for this story I'll be much obliged and use it as my icon for the story. Thank you!**


	22. Chapter 21

**Finally! The climax of Star Fighters commences. Will our heroes survive or will the dastardly plot of Orochimaru come to fruition, not only ending their lives but the lives of an entire planet. Oto could be launched in a potentially devastating war; Suna could be destroyed forever. **

**Chapter 21. **

"**Naruto, I love you."**

Sasuke felt the warmth in Naruto's smile like the thawing rise of the sun at his back and smiled genuinely in return.

"Loyal subjects of the system of Otogakure," Orochimaru said in a loud voice across the expanse. "Today, I have brought us—"

The ground shook with a low rumble and began to heave violently beneath their feet.

Orochimaru froze. His speech ended before he finished his first declaration, the noble ladies and gentlemen cried out in surprise, while the armed guard staggered with the force of the blow.

Sasuke slid his hands free.

Orochimaru spun toward his victims and clenched his teeth. Sasuke grinned slightly at him.

Orochimaru seemed to fill with life, hatred—and purpose. "Present!" he shrilled to the execution detail.

Sasuke glanced hurriedly back to Naruto. Beyond the house, a dusky cloud arose billowing near the eastern outwall.

"Sight!" Orochimaru screamed. Ceremoniously, the Four House Guards brought up the D-rifles.

Naruto flung both arms forward. From where they had lain hidden, the hand-blasters flew into his palms. He deflected one toward Sasuke. The boy dropped shooting to one knee and sighted on the nearest guard while Naruto extended an arm again, reaching into the gesture with his whole body. His Bunshin sailed from Orochimaru's cloak pocket, but only reached the halfway point into the field before tumbling to the ground. Naruto's weakness was setting in, and Sasuke fully realized he had to lead this little escape.

Orochimaru hissed and grabbed for the Bunshin. As the nearest guard sprawled on his back from Sasuke's quick bolt, Naruto flung his body forward for the downed laser-sword. Sasuke joined him, offering cover fire with his own readily-tuned blaster; his muscles ached to move more, to defy all logic. His mind buzzed with adrenaline and alertness; everything was hyper-rendered. Rolling sideways across the dampened snow-ridden ground, he fired and downed the remaining two House Guards, who tumbled to the earth in harmless heaps. Naruto crawled forward, pressing his body as far into the snow as possible to avoid stray blasts that ricocheted like birds around their ears. Sasuke followed him with a growl, cursing as he ripped more fire onto the band of armed officers that stood close to Orochimaru.

One disarmed D-rifle carrier, recovering from his surprise, lunged for the weapon the dead guard had dropped. Sasuke felled him with a leg shot as Naruto finally neared the Bunshin. The horizon glowed.

Orochimaru, towering and quaking with compressed rage, stood in front of the Jounin like an executioner. Sasuke realized in horror that he held the Bunshin in one pale, smooth hand. The reflecting light on the snow cast a yellow beam in the mad-man's eyes as he activated the laser-sword with the flick of his wrist.

In the same moment, a stray shot to Sasuke's already injured arm knocked the blaster from his hand.

"Naruto!" he bellowed, heart lurching.

Orochimaru lifted the shuddering, crystalline blade above his head with a hissing roar, tensing his body to take Naruto's head.

"_Naruto!"_ Sasuke screamed with all his might, stretching, willing, shuddering. _**"No!" **_

His voice, rippling through the air in a current of blue fire, tore the oxygen by its molecules, and the Bunshin flew from Orochimaru's hands, circling into a deadly spinning disk in his palm, and then lodged itself into High King Orochimaru Uchiha's purple silken robes, straight through his icy heart. Captain Tomoe shrieked horrified, Naruto gasped, spinning toward Sasuke in disbelief, but Sasuke _bolted_ for Naruto's downed position, grappling the blonde man by his shoulders and lugging him to his feet.

"_Move_!" Sasuke screamed. He forced Naruto to scramble into a nearby hedge for cover as more incensed fire rang down upon them.

"Sasuke, you—!"

"Not _now_!" was the terse, distracted reply. "Get your sword!"

Naruto paused for a moment, gathering his energy. From its position in Orochimaru's heaving chest, Naruto retracted the blade with chakra, the deactivated metal whistling through thin air until it landed safe in a tanned palm. Orochimaru, kneeling in disbelief, clutched his chest where new drops of crimson slid down his dress robes silently.

Sasuke didn't give his cousin a second glance, even in bitterness. His clumsy-numb hands began to feel warm. He swept the scattering crowd with his sights for the ample silhouette of His Grace, Nakahara. Had he drunk too much of Orochimaru's brandy to rise early?

Roushi suddenly bolted into view, panicked jelly-like belly bouncing over the top of his trousers, before he suddenly grew stiff. Sasuke saw Roushi Younbi fall, fleeing for the Shrine, a satisfied look on Naruto's face, and the Bunshin returning to his hand. Roushi's upper half fell free from his legs before he lay in a pool of his own blood.

A flashing bolt grazed Naruto's shoulder. Sasuke spun to return fire when their assailant, Captain Nagato, suddenly fell to the ground, a blaster shot singeing through his clothes. Sasuke wheeled his head around. Konan stood at attention, smoking blaster in hand, and nodded to him as she slinked back into cover. When the last secessionist in range was either down or fleeing, Sasuke finally relaxed his shooting hand.

Remembering Konan's decency the night before, Sasuke inwardly reminded himself to somehow truly thank her in return. If they survived.

"Let's get out of here, Naruto!" The Bunshin's hum snapped off behind him.

From across the field, he could hear Captain Tomoe shouting again, and he caught the word "airstrip." He and four others dashed down the field for the back gate.

"Naruto! If they can put a fighter into the air we're groundside targets!"

"Run, then!" he shouted.

"We'll get one first!" Finally he could release the flood of energy inside him! He sprinted after Tomoe, but before he had taken ten steps, Naruto shouted from far to her left.

"Sasuke!"

He stumbled to a halt and looked for him. Running awkwardly, he was headed for the northern out-wall instead of the gate. Sasuke angled back to join him. The sun crept at last over the horizon. At that moment he turned and shouted, "Drop!"

Sasuke plunged into the grass and prickly weeds. A brilliant bolt of green light, blowing a stone from the wall, pierced the spot where he had stood an instant before. Prone himself, Naruto fired once.

"This way!" He scrambled up and began to climb hand over hand. "Hurry—I missed. It's Nakahara, over in the trees."

"Shit! He must have ducked and played dead!" Fighting to hoist a foot onto the handrail inside the wall, he dropped his blaster. Another shot cracked a rock at his knee. He pushed up, caught the top of the wall, and peered down for the weapon in the weeds.

"Leave it!"

Sasuke linked his hand around Naruto's wrist, clambered over the top, and dropped with him onto the rim of the canyon. Far off to his right he saw the five men, halfway down the winding lane to the airstrip. Below on the apron lay four Otogakure Sharingan 11-90 tagwings, golden arrows glistening among the shadowy private craft. Sasuke didn't miss the irony as he dashed toward the coveted craft, realizing that maybe if he hadn't taken that joyride only a few years before, he might not know how to pilot the sleek vessel.

Naruto snatched his hand and pulled him through the rocks and bushes to the steepest point of the rim, directly over the Sharingans. "Up!" he directed. Sasuke hesitated. Before he could protest that Naruto was too weak to try it, he swung the boy into his arms and leaped.

Sasuke clung to his neck as the cliffs flew by and the permastone apron rushed up. Naruto released him at the last second: he landed hard, tumbled over, and then sprang to his feet. With a backward glance to be sure Naruto was coming, Sasuke dashed up the apron for the nearest fightercraft.

The stepstand had been taken away, but he had sprung onto these forewings a hundred times. Raising the bubble, he wriggled in. Close behind, Naruto jumped directly for the cockpit. He fell short. Sasuke flung out a hand and pulled him aboard while the Jounin leaned heavily on his arm. Sliding the seat to its maximum forward position, he watched Naruto struggle behind it. "It's too small for you back there, isn't it? Get on the seat—I'll sit in front of you." They hurriedly repositioned as Sasuke ignited the laser-ion generator.

Naruto tried to pull the flight harness around both of them while Sasuke closed down the cockpit seals. "Too short," he gasped.

"We don't have any fighter pilots this big around. Secure yourself." Sasuke leaned forward and hastily checked his controls. When he pressed back, he felt Naruto's arms tighten around him.

Motion down the apron caught his peripheral vision. The runners had reached the breakway. One man was raising the canopy of the far Sharingan and climbing aboard. Others had nearly reached the next ships. Sasuke pivoted the fightercraft to starboard and fired its twin laser cannon down the row, enveloping the golden ships with scarlet lightning. Four men dove for cover as the nearest ship burst into thousands of metal shards. Then the second.

The third hull merely twinkled. "His slip-shield's up," Sasuke growled. "I can't take him broadside now. But I don't think he'll oblige us by taking off first."

"We can't stay here." Naruto peered around his head. The other tagwing's engines glowed. "Get up fast if you want a good chance in a scrap. Do you know who that is?"

"No," Sasuke said with a primal glare. "But I hope he's Akatsuki." He cut the braking system, raised shields, and careened off the apron onto the strip, accelerating at max before he hit the canyon straightaway. Then he pulled up and banked hard starboard to avoid being blasted from behind.

They skimmed Naka Shrine, just clearing the outwall, where a large area of the eastern slope had collapsed inward in a pile of smoking rubble. That explained the rumbling from before. Naruto had done it: enough charges had remained hidden and armed to bury the Tenojin lab deep. But Sasuke's stern sensors picked up his pursuer. The display showed that the enemy had dropped both shields, coaxing extra speed from his engines. Apparently the pilot was no amateur, and he intended to finish them quickly.

With double shields, Sasuke couldn't shake him. Spinning full starboard, he singled the shield. The projectile protection dropped away, and a surge of acceleration pressed his body against Naruto's. _Let him leave those shields down_, he pleaded silently. _I wouldn't have to hit an engine port, I could take him with a side shot_! But the enemy's extra velocity kept him out of Sasuke's sights, above and behind, and closing fast to make the kill.

_All right, then. _Sasuke grit his teeth._ We die trying_. Simultaneously, he cut out his last shield, angled straight up, and laid into a fast roll. For a terrifying moment the other fighter passed directly in front of him. An energy burst caught the very tip of his tailfin, and the sudden, horrible pitch threw him off the edge of the seat.

"Dammit, _hold _me, Naruto!" The Jounin's arms tightened again.

Suddenly inspired, he wrenched the emergency-blackout switch off his left-hand sideboard, cutting sensors and display to fly virtually blind and diverting the generator's last erg of output into the engines. Totally inverted now, his fighter looped back. The hillside spun crazily above the cockpit as he turned about, riding his instincts and pushing for the top of the 11-90's envelope.

Suddenly, incredibly, the other fighter slid past the center of Sasuke's cockpit bubble. He held down a firing stud and reactivated his particle shield with a roar. The flash momentarily blinded him, and the hull began to tinkle like singing, metallic rain.

"Hit!" he yelled victoriously. "We did it!" Righting the fighter, he cut his speed to ease the load on its generator. The horizon circled back down to where it belonged.

"Sasuke." Naruto exhaled the name like a sigh. "Sasuke. Well flown." His head fell on the smaller shoulder.

"Well. With his shields down it was like hitting a radio dish. Easy." Wishing his voice had a little less shake to it, he wagged the damaged rudder; it seemed stiff. "I don't suppose we'd better stay around."

"Probably not." Sasuke felt hair pulled back from his throat; a long kiss below his left ear sent tingles down his spine.

"T-the capital, then?" he stammered. He badly wanted to try that fast vertical roll again, with no one shooting.

"Yes, but just a drop-in with orders for Mifune, and to pick up a ship with a little..." He flexed his feet, sandwiched between Sasuke's and the hull. "... more room."

One-fingering a long, low, graceful arc to port, Sasuke laughed. "Orders? Who takes orders from whom, Naruto? You or Mifune?"

"I'll let you guess—Your Highness."

"That's _Captain_!" he scolded. "Hang on!" And he sent the Sharingan high into the morning sky in the wildest victory roll ever negotiated over the mountains of Otogakure.

Southward he soared, needing no instruments to set course down the Uchiha Valley toward the capital's largest river. Abruptly he pulled his hands off the controls, realization dawning. "Kabuto!" he gasped.

"Dead." Naruto shifted one hand on the sideboard. "When they took me I saw him in the chamber outside the Tenojin lab, wearing an oxygen mask and hunting explosives—carrying several."

"Oh…" He checked his altitude. "Then here's one"— he seized the stick—"for Kabuto!" Again the horizon spun. "What _was _he building?"

"For security's sake, can you wait until I discuss it with my superiors?"

"Fine." He wriggled one foot. "This time, I would be glad to wait."

About half an hour farther south, a pair of elegant black Federate fighter-interceptors roared into escort position behind them and challenged them over the interlink. Naruto took the helmet communicator and answered; Sasuke grinned at the chagrin in the pilots' voices as they acknowledged his security-code transmission and peeled away as neatly as skin from dried fruit.

He needed no warning to keep quiet himself, so he didn't object when Naruto reached for the transmitter on the approach to the capital and asked, "Would you mind waiting in the ship while I talk to Mifune at the base? I'll hurry."

"That's all right with me," he answered absently, watching the familiar autumn browns of the outskirts of town sweep beneath him, flying on visual and savoring it. If his Academy flight trainer had spoken over the interlink, he wouldn't have been surprised.

Naruto obtained landing clearance from the Governor himself, then shut off the interlink and spoke quietly in Sasuke's ear. "You can stay if you want. I'm certain you could make a niche for yourself here. Mifune would help." He tangled his fingers into the hair over the boy's neckline. "But you're welcome to go back to Suna with me and face the consequences."

"Suna," he said, not looking into Naruto's eyes. "Of course." Then an awkward thought crossed his mind. "Are you in trouble with Regional, do you think?"

A small, grateful kiss on his neck. "Mifune will probably tell me."

Sasuke dropped the tagwing on the breakway strip and halted near the largest of the strange new buildings. As Naruto squeezed out, Sasuke took a long look at his face: pale but no longer yellow, it glistened with sweat.

"I won't be long." Standing on the forewing, Naruto bent and kissed him. Sasuke fought not to wrap arms around the man to deepen it, releasing his lips with a soft sigh. Naruto grinned boyishly at him, then he slid to the ground and strode off, slowly, but steadily.

-oOo-

Naruto slipped into the Governor's office without waiting for the secretary to clear or announce him. Mifune looked up from his bluescreen and his face radiated alarm.

"Uzumaki—what in Six-Alpha are you doing here? I've been told to detain you on sight." He set down his stylus. "So get out of my sight."

Naruto walked forward as quickly as his uncooperative legs would move. "You had a wolves' nest up north, sir," he said. "Naka Shrine, a private estate—"

"Yes, I had a message yesterday from Gaara Sabaku of the Regional Council—but we couldn't find the locale on any map. I put a query in to the King's office..."

Naruto reached for the map projection on the wall behind Mifune's desk chair. "Here. They've kept it off maps, so I'm not surprised you couldn't find it. Orochimaru Uchiha converted it into a nuclear laboratory—they were modifying bombs. You'll want to send a mop-up crew: we left about fifty very angry secessionists, probably armed. But they've no fightercraft now, and no ordnance lab."

Mifune rubbed his chin, adjusted shining spectacles. "Bombs? What are you talking about? They signed a treaty."

"Dig it out if you want, sir. I am leaving—quickly." He paused with one hand on a corner of Mifune's desk. "What about Lord Sasuke?"

"Uzumaki, we have no idea where he is. None."

"Sir." Naruto nodded his thanks.

A small red light began to pulse beside the label on Mifune's linkboard that read "Uchiha."

Both men froze. Mifune pressed the glowing red panel. "General Mifune. What is it?"

A formal voice spoke on the phone. It was female. "General. This morning, Orochimaru Uchiha, High King of Otogakure, died in an unfortunate accident."

Naruto froze. It was no accident. Who was that woman? He gave a slow nod to Mifune, whose face registered alarm.

"Who is this?" the old man asked into the receiver.

"This is Konan of the Akatsuki forces. Currently I am at Naka Shrine, north of the capital. I have with me fifty-eight bound nobles and House Guards, as well as the bodies of High King Orochimaru Uchiha and First Prince Kabuto Uchiha, what's left of it. The accident was brought upon by their own experiments, I believe. A chemical malfunction."

Mifune's face darkened considerably. With a flick, he covered the receiver with a hand. "You didn't say you'd killed the royal family!" he hissed.

"They were planning to foul an entire world, Governor. You'll see once you discover the shrine."

Mifune frowned. "Then why do the Akatsuki claim it was an accident?"

"I don't know."

The older man removed his hand from the receiver. "Akatsuki agent, Konan, can you give me the specifics of what has occurred at Naka Shrine?"

"I can tell you there was an explosion." Her voice was cool and level over the intercom. Naruto, despite knowing the truth, found himself almost believing the assured tone. She was good. "Other than that, I don't know. As my Akatsuki duty dictates, I have been guarding the Uchiha High King and Prince, but their experiments could have been nothing short of devastating if they were enacted. I am grateful that _fate_ chose to intervene and cause the explosion."

Mifune raised surprised eyes to Naruto's. "She's really saying it was an accident," he whispered.

"No," Naruto returned slowly, "she _wants _us to say it was an accident. She must know that I returned here first to tell you about Naka. Under any circumstances, the people of Otogakure would be furious if they knew their High King was killed by a Federate, no matter if in self defense or not. She's giving you a front for the press."

Turning back to his desk, Mifune said to Konan, "Akatsuki agent Konan, I am grateful for your report. I'm certain you'll be commended in time. I ask that you wait in Naka until reinforcements for you arrive."

There was a short pause before Konan responded. "Thank you, Governor. If you could transport me back to the palace immediately, I would be most grateful. The High King is yet unprotected now, which puts me on edge."

Naruto and Mifune narrowed their eyes in confusion. "Agent Konan," Mifune said slowly. "You said Orochimaru is dead."

"He is, of course. I'm referring to High King Sasuke Uchiha."

**Yeah, because as the only remaining Uchiha of age… who else can take the throne? **

**Star Fighters has a few chapters left, people! I think two or three at most, but it's coming to a close soon! Ahead of time, thanks for the support, and if you like my work, run to my page, and check out my new mini-story Rock Stars. I'm also updating my older story Dauntless Core now, so look forward to that!**

**PS. I'd really like some fanart for this fic. It would be cool to get a visualization for a sci fi Naruto-verse. Any of you artists out there, think of me if you're bored!**


	23. Chapter 22

**AU: It's been far too long, and I sincerely apologize for it! You see, I haven't been writing just the one chapter. I wanted two. So this and the next will be published at the same time, so you can FINALLY have the ending to this little tale of mine. **

**I can't thank you enough for your continued support. **

**Chapter 22**

Anxiously, Sasuke fiddled with the start-up controls to the ship, skimming eager fingertips over the glowing buttons but not pressing them until he would see Naruto emerge from the government building. Though, the boy noted with a nervous glance back to his instruments, Naruto had been inside the white stonewalls for over an hour.

Finally, he saw the old door to the building open, revealing the unruly blonde hair and tan skin Sasuke recognized even at this distance. He hurriedly pushed the buttons to initiate takeoff and nearly had the entire sequence mashed in when Naruto climbed the fighter jet and grabbed Sasuke's hand, stilling him.

Sasuke glanced up to Naruto's grim expression, and his heart sank. What had happened? Were they caught?

"You need to come inside," was all he said as he pulled Sasuke from the craft. The boy, nearly shaking with nervousness, obediently complied as Naruto guided him discreetly through the building, past a female secretary who looked at him with wide eyes, and into an inner office. A stately looking gentleman in Federate uniform stood next to his deep wooden desk and gestured Sasuke to a nearby chair. His face was equally grim as Naruto's. "I am Governor Mifune," he said formally, offering Sasuke his hand. The boy took it. "Your Highness, please take a seat."

"Captain," Sasuke corrected automatically while sinking into the cushions of the chair. Beside him, Naruto barked a sardonic laugh before turning away.

Mifune seemed to ignore the Jounin before taking the opposite seat at his desk. He cordially offered tea, which Sasuke rejected. Anxious about the serious mood in the air, he knew he wouldn't be able to stomach sustenance. "Governor, I assume Naruto has told you about the events today at Naka Shrine," Sasuke said gravely. "Which means that—"

"Your Highness," the elderly man interrupted. "I am aware what transpired this morning at the Shrine, but we have more pressing matters to consider now."

"M-more pressing?" Sasuke stammered. What could be more pressing than his cousin's pernicious activities?

"The succession."

Sasuke's face wrinkled in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"High King Madara Uchiha allegedly took his own life in his chambers weeks ago, and this morning both newly crowned High King Orochimaru Uchiha as well as First Prince Kabuto were destroyed in an unfortunate _accident_ at Naka Shrine, while on holiday."

The boy's face went white. He'd nearly forgotten that his wretched cousins had forsaken their people by initiating the Tenojin experiments. Now the succession was in disarray. Sasuke swallowed, his mind searching for names. "The Uchiha line is continued in Orochimaru's two daughters," he said slowly. "Though they are both too young to take the throne. You can appoint a steward, as acting Governor, sir. In time, Orochimaru's eldest can take the throne, when she is of proper age."

"No, we know that won't be necessary, Your Highness."

Irked at the title being used again, Sasuke said slowly, "It's _Captain_, Governor."

"No." Mifune folded hands over the desk and leaned forward. "It's not. It is _High King Sasuke Uchiha_."

Astonished, Sasuke whirred his head back to Naruto, who stood within the frame of the window. The Jounin's eyes were cobalt blue and serious— this was not in jest.

"Impossible," Sasuke said instantly.

"I assure you, Your Highness, it is fact."

Annoyed, the boy leaned forward in his chair. "_Sir_, you are misinformed. I cannot be High King. My current citizenship is undefined at best, though I have recently created bonds between myself and the Federacy. These bonds are forbidden for Otogakure royalty, so I gave up my title to obtain them. I'm no more royalty than you are."

Perfectly serious, Mifune's gray eyes spoke volumes, and for a brief moment, Sasuke couldn't process what he was being told.

Abruptly he sprang to his feet. "Absolutely not! I can't be— I'm not— I'm not even a citizen of Otogakure any longer. I told you. I swore an oath before the Federate council. In front of Marshal Nakahara and Captain Tomoe even! I can't possibly—"

"Your Highness, I am afraid no record of any such oath has been recorded. The council recognizes your Otogakure citizenship."

Sasuke blinked. "You're not saying—"

"Marshal Nakahara and Captain Tomoe, this morning declared as traitors to Otogakure, have been stripped of their rank and citizenship. They're being shipped to Suna as we speak to live there, probably as farmers."

"Farmers?!" He drew up, suddenly stiff. He could see what was happening now. Effectively, both the Federate occupying forces as well as the council at Suna had moved him into position as King.

Mifune sighed. "Your Akatsuki guard, a Lady Konan, informed us this morning of your position in the succession. It is unprecedented for a Missling to become High King, but not unexpected. After all, the very existence of the Missling class was to ensure the protection of old bloodlines, I'm told."

Konan! Sasuke thought feverishly back to the woman. She truly was loyal to the Uchiha. If she hadn't informed Mifune of the order of the succession, Sasuke would never be able to…

But High King!

He had to sit again, resting a shaking hand on his knee. No, no, he'd never expected it. But if what Mifune said was true, if the Federation did not recognize his oath to them, then technically he was yet a citizen of Otogakure. Not only a citizen, but a member of the royal family. But what of the results of the interrogation? Sasuke had lived among Federates for months! Would the Otogakure people accept his sudden return?

Even if they did, could Sasuke even… _be _king? _Be__** the**__ king_… The High King. Sasuke's father had been the High King once.

There was no way in burning _hell_!

"I can't!" Sasuke breathed, bolting back to his feet. He made for the door, but Naruto, faster than a blink, caught him by the wrist.

"Sasuke, please."

"I can't be _king_!" he shouted. "Someone else… Itachi could have… I _can't_, Naruto! I'm not wise or strong! I was _never_ supposed to be King!"

"No, Sasuke." Naruto pulled him closer, fixating those terrifyingly blue eyes on him. "You are strong. And you have a love for your people that your uncle and your cousins never had. You are the rightful king. You're an Uchiha. Even if you feel the succession has been tampered with, Sasuke, realize that there's so much good you can do for your people. You can save them, usher them into a new realm of peace and prosperity unlike any other they've ever imagined. _You _can do that, Sasuke. Only you."

"I… Naruto, if I'm king, then…"

_They couldn't be together_. Sasuke felt his heart shrivel.

Naruto put a suddenly shaky hand over his brow and cleared away droplets of sweat. The boy grabbed the appendage and brought it to his cheek, shivering.

"Sasuke," Naruto spoke with a calm that befit his age, low and soothing. "I believe this has all happened for a reason. In one way or another, I think you were born for this. Your fighting spirit, your passion, your ambition for life, the love you have for your people: all of it can be used to make Otogakure an established if not esteemed member of the Federacy. You can save every person on this planet."

"H-how can you know that?" Sasuke whispered.

"I know _you_. You had such a turning, Sasuke, and you know more than anyone about redeeming yourself. You can redeem this planet too."

Mifune stood as well. "Your Highness," he said gravely. "your people are currently without an acting governmental body. A majority of the secessionists at Naka Shrine were Electorate members. They are also being stripped of their ranks in response to their violation of the peace treaty they signed with us. Otogakure, without you, will be left in disarray, and I am afraid your people might be pushed to revolution as a result."

The weight of Mifune's words descended upon Sasuke's shoulders, and he nearly lost his footing. Naruto kept him standing in place.

"But if you were King, Sasuke," the old man continued, "you could help us bring in support for the Federacy. With the Electorate already dissolved by their own volition, we have a chance of bringing democracy into Otogakure politics. The need for a king may diminish in a few generations if peaceful elections are brought about for a new Electorate. Your reign could be the beginning of a new, free Otogakure."

Sasuke regarded the old man with wavering eyes. Mifune's eye blazed with wisdom and hope, the subtle nuances of his calmness infecting Sasuke with some assurance. And Naruto, standing before him, holding him securely by the hand, was a tower of strength. If Sasuke had their support, he thought with not a little apprehension, he could do it. No, he _had _to do it. The people of Otogakure, _his_ people, Jugo, Karin, Suigetsu, the Misslings, the common class, even the self-righteous royals: they all needed him. He could save them, just as Naruto had saved him.

Sasuke inhaled, the breath bolstering his shoulders to sureness and alleviating the metal butterflies tumbling about in his gut. He remembered briefly the way his own father had stood: imposing and strong in the face of enemies but soft before his people. He thought back to Itachi's gentle hands and steady assurance, his own mother's unflinching kindness even in the face of adversity. With their examples to lead the way, he could become a king. Obito's legacy, the line of children down to Sasuke himself, would not be wasted on the likes of Madara, Kabuto, and Orochimaru. Sasuke would redeem both his family and his world.

"Governor Mifune," he said, and he almost didn't recognize his own voice. How low and strong it sounded… "As this planet's new king, I need to have allies. Otogakure cannot live as an island system any longer. I entreat you, sir, to forgive the vices my family has done against you and accept my hand in friendship. Despite my cousins' violation of the peace treaty, I can only beg forgiveness for Otogakure's sake, and I promise that another violation will never occur."

Under Naruto's astonished gaze, Sasuke took the older man's hand and shook it.

"Next," Sasuke said decisively, "I need to speak with my people. Before any rumors are started, a press conference will be held this afternoon. I want to tell them with my own mouth what has happened. Finally, I need you to bring me Karin Kagura, Jugo Samadhi, and Suigetsu Hozuki. I'll need loyal advisors, and they're all trustworthy. Did Konan say anything about when she'll be arriving?"

"She requested a transport shuttle to bring her here as soon as possible," Mifune said, obviously stunned.

Sasuke nodded. "Very good. She'll be the new head of the Akatsuki, Captain Nagato's replacement, as well as head of my security for now; we'll be hiring a few more members more than likely." He reflected with a bit of irony that he was mostly the reason behind the new hires.

"Lord Sasuke, you must realize," Mifune said hesitantly, "becoming King will not be easy, nor will it be a temporary situation. You are sure of this decision?"

"Not only am I sure," Sasuke said, and his eyes caught Naruto's. "I was born for this."

-oOo-

Sasuke's press conference was held that evening, under the orange setting sun. He had forgone the heavy robes of the Otogakure King in favor of his Missling Otogakure military uniform, his promotion badges removed as they'd been at his capture on the Federate vessel. Before the mounted podium, an entire planet lay before him, its peoples silent and awaiting his words. Their faces were all weathered, carefully blank, yet the despondency of their situation rocked Sasuke's heart so wretchedly he had to fight to keep his tears at bay. Such meaningless destruction his cousins had brought upon his land.

Uchiha red banners swayed in the wind above and around Sasuke as he spoke, and his words echoed over the expansive stone just before the palace gates. It was the microphones, however, that projected him, for his tone was downcast, sometimes barely above a whisper.

"Brothers, sisters, I am Sasuke Uchiha, former Third Prince of Otogakure and its surrounding systems. In light of the recent demises of not only the former High King Madara but also the First and Second Princes Kabuto and Orochimaru, I humbly will take the place as your king, if you'll allow me that privilege and responsibility."

_My Dear Naruto,_

_I am pleased to say that not all has been lost for Otogakure. _

_We are growing, rebuilding slowly yet surely. Already the capital has been mostly restored to its former glory. Our wealth was nearly depleted by the war, but Mifune's brilliant budget plan for Oto has enabled us to bring work to the common class once more. Likewise, agriculturally and industrially, we continue to thrive. Most Otogakure citizens take well to their Federate brothers, who are always wise and helpful, especially here at the palace. General Nara's visit this past month was most appreciated. You never told me how brilliant of a man he was, Naruto. I'll admit that he had become an asset to us in the short time he was visiting with us. _

"This system has held more than its share of wars and devastation. It has both bled and cut, both has suffered and caused suffering. But, my people, we are the makers of our destiny. No man needs to suffer any longer because of what he thinks is the path he must take. Anyone can and should form their own path."

_My Dear Naruto, _

_You'll forgive me for not writing for so long. Naturally, Otogakure takes up a great deal of my time, like a needy child. I wonder how my mother and father created the time to spend with Itachi and I. Oftentimes, I find myself beside their graves, asking for their assistance, and though they rarely answer, I can almost feel their support, along with Sakura's. I worry for Oto in the obsessive way a father worries for its child, and there are nights when I cannot sleep for fear we'll all be blown away in the night. Yet Konan keeps me company in those times, proving herself to be an invaluable companion and confidante. Don't worry, though, Naruto. I believe she's had her eyes on another of the servants for quite some time, a younger man named Yahiko if I'm not mistaken. I sometimes wonder at the pair of them together. Yahiko bears a striking resemblance to you, blonde and blue eyed as well…_

"For this reason I have initiated a stop to all executions of non-guilty individuals, and I hereby obliterate the Missling Class. Let no one be forced into an early death for a crime they did not commit. This is my first act as your High King. I wish for us all to live in happiness and peace, as equals, as brothers and sisters of Oto."

_My Dear Naruto,_

_I was relieved and overjoyed at your last letter. I cannot express how happy I am that the Jounin council has promoted you to the High Command after so long. I confess that after Naka Shrine, I was worried your chances were diminished altogether. I'll wager you're quite busy now, though I am as well, of course. Orochimaru's eldest daughter, Anko, is a delight, though, and often helps me to relax. As a child, I had little opportunity to meet with her, for Orochimaru kept his children very well hidden for fear they may be attacked. His paranoia did Anko a world of good, however. She shows none of the pernicious nature of her father, and is quite attached to me as I am to her. At seventeen now, I wonder if she'll indulge me and take the throne when she is of age. That is a long way off now, though, and I don't have time to think of such pleasantries. _

"We may be broken now, but soon we can rise from our own ashes, take the helping hands of those who've offered it, and become a people to surpass those who've come before us. Otogakure, will you support me in this? Will you help me make us whole again?"

Their resounding roars of affirmation, their screams of joy and relief, resounded across the ground so greatly that the very stones of the palace shook to their foundations. Sasuke could hardly hear them over the pounding of his own heart, and Konan handing him a white kerchief was the first indication he received that he'd been crying the entire time.

_My Dear Naruto, _

_Our correspondence has become infrequent, and I must apologize for it. I am ashamed to say that Otogakure's prosperity has taken precedence over my own personal affairs, for which Karin scolds me constantly. She maintains that if anything I ought to be able to sit for a few moments and write to you, and yet there are half a dozen incomplete letters I've attempted to finish and send out to you, to no avail. Even now, a buzzer blinks beside me, more than likely a call from some official or another to send me off again. Otogakure's military is being reinstated soon, thanks to the generosity of the Federacy. Our ships have never been more efficient. I ought to tell you that I've taken our latest Sharingan model for a spin, and then demanded one to be bought for my own personal use. A blatant misuse of my power, but I'm sure my conscience will wear of plaguing me about it soon. Then I'll be able to cruise in peace. _

_I miss you— _

-oOo-

"Sasuke?"

The Uchiha king's head shot up at the questioning voice beside him, and the dark, almond-shaped eyes of First Princess Anko Mitarashi Uchiha filled his vision for an instant. Her white skin glowed under the warm chandelier lights, wild hair scattered about her shoulders in a deliberate mess. On her face, a soft smile creased her lips.

"Sleeping at your desk again, Uncle," she chided gently. Sasuke shook the grogginess from his sleep-filled eyes and wearily pulled himself from the chair, the old wood creaking under the shift in weight. He felt his limbs moan beneath him, as if he were aged and decrepit already.

"Is it morning yet, Anko?" he asked as he stretched his neck and back, grimacing at the uncomfortable pain in his limbs after sitting so long in one attitude.

"Yes, dawn's just off the horizon."

He could have groaned. It was as if he hadn't slept at all. "I apologize that I appear to be in shambles, Anko. On the day of your coronation too."

"Oh so you _do_ know what day it is then," she said with a lopsided grin.

"Of course." He rubbed shaky hands over bloodshot eyes. "I've spent the past few months planning the festival for today."

"Today is also the day you took to the throne too, Uncle. Five years ago at noon. The whole kingdom is outside waiting to celebrate with you."

He grimaced. "At least the economy will boost from all the extra spending."

"Oh, come on now. Can't you find _some_ joy in bringing Oto from rags to riches in less than half a decade?"

_Perhaps I could if I wasn't so exhausted, _he thought with a tinge. Otogakure's well-being had always been his driving force, and having obtained prosperity for his people did overjoy him. However, their peace came at a cost to him. He was bone-weary, felt older than he was, and he'd been deprived for five years of the one thing preventing him from utter happiness…

He shook himself of the melancholy thought instantly. "Yes, yes," he said. His hands skimmed quickly over the written documents on the table, sifting through a few of the most recent to be shipped out and then deposited them into a single pile for his secretary to remove later. The rest he absently began to look through in an attempt to sort it, though a light tug at his elbow attracted his attention. Anko's silly grin, so carefree and eager despite Orochimaru's blood flowing through her veins, greeted him, and he couldn't help but smirk in return.

"Anko, what has you so cheered?"

Her eyes flickered brilliantly, and without warning she approached and grasped both his hands. "Uncle, let me take care of the rest of everything for the day. Can't you rest a bit? Enjoy yourself?"

"Anko, it's your coronation and—" he began to protest, but she squeezed his hands tighter.

"_Please_, Sasuke. Let me give this to you. Go out today, look around, enjoy what you've done for all of us. Today is your last day as king. Have it in peace."

His mild surprise at her using his actual name (a rare occurrence he hardly received from anyone, since he was always Lord Uchiha or 'Your Highness' or Uncle in her case) faded as he considered her words. Her coronation was at sunset in front of the palace grounds, the exact place Sasuke had taken the throne years ago.

"Supposed 'last day' or not, Anko, my work is hardly done," he protested. "Naturally, you won't be left alone in your reign. I don't see a reason to shirk my duties today if tomorrow I'll have double my work to catch up."

"How about as a coronation present?" Anko persisted.

"Oh, and the Sharingan T-19 I gave you wasn't enough?"

"Uncle!" she exclaimed, exasperated.

Finally, Sasuke's resolve melted into a chuckling smile, and the girl punched him playfully in the arm.

"The troubles you give me! When I am queen, I'll not have any defiance from you at all!" Her eyes grew bold in feigned haughtiness, and the Uchiha glare entered her eyes for just a moment. Sasuke knew his family's blood remained strong whenever he saw it and was grateful for it. Anko could carry Otogakure into a new attitude of peace and contentment; she represented an entire, fresh generation of Oto children who knew nothing of the Missling Class or the wretched and pointless war against Amegakure and the Federation. She was the symbol of hope that Sasuke could never be, having been somewhat poisoned by Orochimaru's pernicious nature. She would be a lovely and loving queen.

"I'll go," he said finally, raising a pale hand to cup the side of her face. In return she grinned so brightly that it reminded Sasuke suddenly of Naruto. His heart ached, and he broke the contact.

"You'll contact Konan, won't you?" Anko asked as he retreated. "You can't just go off walking by yourself!"

"Yes, _mother_," Sasuke chided, ignoring Anko's series of protests at the title.

'I'm still too young for that, dammit!' he heard her yell as he reached into his jacket and pulled a small communicator from the inner pocket. "Konan, I'm having a pleasure walk in half hour. You'll meet me by the gate, won't you?"

In a half moment, the affirmative reply was relayed over the device, and Sasuke reached his quarters in the master bedroom. The furniture was rich, heavy, and old, dark and ornamented with the Uchiha crest and other past stories. The carpet buffered his steps to where he was practically silent as he walked to his very large closet. Senate robes, military uniforms, dress tunics, and ceremonial attire hung in orderly rows and columns, higher than Sasuke's head and stretching the length of his room. Reaching his civilian attire, he dawned a comfortable but warm navy blue jacket and stretched into black trousers that fit a little loose at the hem. He was losing weight.

"I have to eat properly," he reminded himself with a grimace as he secured the trousers with a black belt. Exiting his room and progressing down the hallways, he nodded in greeting to each servant, worker, and decorator he passed as each of them bowed low in respect. He remembered how early on the excessive attention had frightened and confused him. Progressing from a pitied Missling into a High King practically overnight had been a great shock to him. Had it not been for Mifune and his other advisors to guide him, he might have never gotten used to the attention.

As he neared the palace's large front doors, he gratefully espied Konan's figure amongst the busy workers. As usual, the tall woman remained frighteningly still, a trait all the Akatsuki shared, though Konan gave the appearance of being a statue more than the others. Though at once, her face cracked into a smile upon seeing him.

"My lord," she greeted with a nod and Sasuke grabbed her arm in an embrace befitting the head of his security. "So Anko has forced you out of the house?" she inquired.

"Did you hear of that from the servants or have you finally attached that bug to my clothes?" Sasuke returned with a smirk.

"Naturally, the former," she replied, not missing a beat. "However, I would be more careful with handling your pins, you Highness. All the cracking gets hard on my ears."

Sasuke took the plea half seriously as he regarded her unflinchingly blank expression. "A walk," he said finally. "Shall we go to the Academy first?"

"Whatever is your wish, my Lord."

"Oh, well then can I walk alone?"

"Alone, my Lord?"

"I have no doubt you'll be around to look after me, but it's been a long time since I've had a moment to myself. Do you mind?"

Konan paused for a moment, as if considering the security requirements for such a request. "Of course," she said slowly. "I'll be close by but unseen if you need anything."

Sasuke nodded. "Of course." As Konan stepped away, he noted how she put a hand to the customary microphone she always wore in her ear, more than likely assembling a team of Akatsuki to watch him. He didn't particularly mind as long as they gave him the illusion of solitude.

Concerned as he was with keeping his presence masked, Sasuke decided to dawn another, higher-collared jacket that covered most of his face and took the side entrance outside to be on the safe side. When he was quite sure that no one was paying attention to him, he set out on the open street, taking the same walk he'd taken as a young man to the academy. Light snow crunched under his feet and he was distinctly reminded of all the walks he'd shared with Sakura on this very path.

Sometimes on this very road, she'd held his hand. On the days when he'd felt lonely because of his parents' deaths, or ostracized when Orochimaru and Kabuto ignored him, or hated under the critical gaze of Madara's cold eyes, she'd been his warmth and his foundation. Without her, what sort of person would he have become? If not for her steadfast adoration, would he have grown into a cold-hearted monger of death? Or worse, what if he'd taken a path of darkness, like his two lost cousins, and lived in selfish ambition at the expense of others?

Sakura's kindness, her sparkling green eyes full of hope and love, had saved him from that kind of fate, and even now it still hurt to think of her life, so short and snuffed out in a war borne of lies and greed. Otogakure could never be such a place again. Sasuke had fought so hard to make sure of that.

As he neared the Academy gates, the customary fountainhead, with Obito Uchiha standing in the center, his head held high and a bright smile on his face, filled Sasuke with such nostalgia that he felt dizzy. Sitting where he'd sat years ago, he gently stroked the side of the cold granite surface where Sakura had once occupied and closed his eyes tight.

"_Sakura's gone!" Karin's terrified voice over the speakers echoed._

_The intense pain, violent enough to shoot across space, overwhelmed him and turned his attention from the dogfight. She'd died, and Sasuke had met…_

"Naruto," he whispered in aching loneliness to the still air and closed his eyes. He rarely allowed himself to think of the Jounin, now High-Commander of the Federate forces, for his emotions on the subject were still too raw to conceal, even after years of separation. They'd sent each other hundreds of digital letters, though lately, because of Sasuke's inconsistency, their correspondence had shriveled to hardly anything, and Sasuke wondered with the more cynical part of his mind of Naruto had found someone else to spend his time with.

Perhaps Hinata's persistence had paid off.

His grimace was pained, and he stood to stop his racing thoughts about that particularly detestable image— Naruto pinned beneath her, finally succumbed to Hinata's longing for his exceptional genes.

A shudder, and he was walking through familiar halls filled with unfamiliar faces. Naturally all the students weren't going to be ones he was familiar with; those whom he'd studied with were already adults, either serving Otogakure in life or having served it in death. Thankfully, every Missling who'd survived Amegakure had been spared, thanks to Sasuke's edict declaring the Missling class dissolved. There had been some strong protest at the beginning, mostly from aristocrats with too many children and no way to spread the inheritance to all of them. Sasuke had both gained and lost support, but he never once faltered in his position. There would never be another Sakura, forced into a war she didn't believe in simply because of the order of her birth.

From the Academy, Sasuke ventured to the training grounds, where even in the cold a sector of youth were exercising on the obstacle courses or performing drills with various instructors. Just beyond an adjacent hill, and Sasuke glimpsed a bit of the fence he'd broken his back on years before— the result of flying an 11-90 without permission. Despite himself, Sasuke smiled at the painful memory.

Approaching the hangar bay at a slow, wandering pace, Sasuke wasn't surprised to see a few of the captains and sergeants who knew him, even with his face partially covered. They bowed deeply and he returned a greeting with a smile and nod before silently continuing to Otogakure's newly assembled fleet, the finest of their new craft laid out before him. Easily he palmed the underneath of one of the sleeker vessels, the same thrill of excitement coursing through him every time he touched one of the powerful machines. Sasuke had always been attracted to power, no matter how he told himself it wasn't wise to have an obsession with it. Yet he couldn't deny the adrenaline rush that took him each time he was put up with an enemy, an obstacle, and overcame it. Even worse was his attraction to strong people: people like Konan, his own niece, and of course Naruto.

"You're certainly on my mind a lot today," Sasuke murmured out loud. The hangar bay suddenly felt empty to him, and he deserted it in favor of the busy streets of the capital city, some parts still under construction from its decimation five years prior, but most of it gleamed like white steel. Even the rough-hewn stone possessed an ethereal, alive glow that Sasuke took as a good sign. His people were thriving.

All about them, they flocked and chattered away with each other. Their faces were full of smiles and happiness, despite the sudden cold the weather took. Occasionally, Sasuke would stop in a café or restaurant to warm himself, but he never stayed for long. Sometimes young ladies would spot him from across a room or street, point a little, giggle, and when he finally acknowledged them with a smile, he noted how they did not bow but burst into more laughs and shy, blushing waves to him. He didn't know how to react to their advances and ducked away as he felt his cheeks redden.

He walked listlessly for hours, through the capital, out of it into the outskirts and hints of countryside. He took the train back through the city and arrived at the other side, to the capital building, the high, stone structure that had barely survived the bombings. Up the side of the east corner, Sasuke could just barely spy the crack in the wall where he'd climbed up to spy upon council proceedings. Naturally Madara had had that particular spot sealed up when Sasuke had been caught in his youth, but when Sasuke took the throne, he took painstaking measures to ensure that most of his old hiding places were sealed as well. If a boy could find them, then certainly an attacker could in the future.

The sun was far past its zenith when Sasuke's feet began to tire, though he had no desire to stop in his nostalgic journey. So many stories were locked in every fiber of this city, every stone, and despite that Sasuke could see no reason to leave Oto in the near future, he felt that he should look on it as much as he could.

"Konan," he said aloud with a final breath, and like a shadow detaching itself from another realm to enter this one, she appeared beside him in an instant. "Call a speeder. I'll go home now."

"Yes, my lord," she said, quickly giving the order through her earpiece for one of the palace drivers to pick them up immediately. As they waited, Konan inquired in a quiet voice, "Did you see all you wanted, my Lord?"

"Yes." He paused for a moment, glancing beside him to find Konan's eyes upon him. He even noted that her earpiece was detached and hung over her shoulder.

"What is it, Sasuke?" she asked in a low voice.

He lowered his eyes to the snow beneath him, feeling naked and young once more. "You knew my brother, Konan. Do you think—"

"My lord, if there is one soul in the afterlife content with the legacy he left behind, it is your brother's." She reached toward him and gave the sleeve of his jacket a firm squeeze. "_I'm_ proud of you. You were— _are— _one of the best king's this planet has ever seen."

Unbidden, Sasuke's eyes stung menacingly, and he lowered his head to his boots once more, not looking up until well after the speeder for his pickup had arrived.

-oOo-

Anko's coronation was a tribute to Oto's growth, an event wrapped in treasure, jewels, and the finest garbs the reserve could hold. The entirety of the castle grounds was filled with eager Otogakure citizens, who cheered their lungs out in respect and gratitude to their future queen. Anko herself was a changed woman, her roguish spirit tampered to favor her people with the softest of smiles, while her hands bent smoothly to give them the most delicate of waves.

Placing the glittering Uchiha ceremonial crown on her charcoal-colored hair, Sasuke was nearly overcome with emotion, meeting her eyes through watery orbs and giving her all his affection in a single look. If he'd ever had a daughter, Sasuke could not say she'd be more precious to him than Anko, and the young queen certainly knew it. Standing with the crown on her head, she threw her arms about his shoulder and placed a kiss on his cheek— hardly customary, but the crowd went wild at the expression of affection. Sasuke marveled at them, noticing that even the aristocrats and the Electorate were smiling and applauding— a one-hundred eighty degree turn from the cold, harsh Uchiha of the past, who only succeeded thrones when a king had died.

Sasuke felt a bout of surrealism take him as he realized he was the first king in three generations of Uchiha to survive his reign long enough to hand it off to someone else. Wonders would never cease.

Swept into the expected chaos and confusion that was the coronation night parade and the subsequent festival, Sasuke hardly realized when midnight stole over Otogakure, save for when Konan gave him the time when he inquired of it. It was early into the morning by the time the festivities had ceased, and gratefully Sasuke found his way into his office. No, not his anymore. It would be Anko's in the morning. He'd already taken measures to remove all the furniture and paperwork that he knew she wouldn't want, yet he couldn't help his own routine. As king, he'd practically lived in this large study. With nothing to do at the moment, Sasuke took a moment to throw one of the wide windows open, stepping onto the adjacent balcony to gaze down on the capital city, still glittering with lights of continued festivities. The purple and black hues of the stone buildings felt magical when bathed in the glows of the festival lamps, ranging in color from orange, green, and blue to stark white.

"Beautiful," he heard gasped beside him.

He didn't jump. Anko's feet weren't as light as she thought them to be, and he'd heard her come in a few minutes prior.

"Yes," he agreed calmly. "It's yours now, Anko. Your responsibility to care for it and teach it, love it like a parent."

"I think I'm a little young for motherhood," she quipped as she leaned over the balcony and placed a hand on her cheek.

"Well, you won't do it alone. I'll be here to show you how it's done."

"Oh, you mean like you have been for the past, what, four years now?" Sasuke took a step back to glance at Anko's smirking face and saw all the confidence and intelligence that befit and Uchiha High Queen and not even a hint of fear. "I think I'm rather prepared for this," she finished, getting up from her position to stand before him. "I've even learned to keep royal secrets."

"Secrets?" Sasuke questioned, an eyebrow rising. He didn't like her rigid posture, one that screamed she was hiding something, ready to release a surprise and see his reaction. He hoped to the gods of fire that she wasn't going to tell him she suddenly had a boy she loved.

"Yes, Uncle," she said at last. "I have to tell you: I haven't been honest with you at all today. You see, when I saw you at dawn this morning and urged you to go out and see the city, I had ulterior motives."

He'd suspected as much but never thought she'd admit to it. That didn't explain the foreboding he felt in his chest, nor the racy sort of energy flitting from his heart to his hands and feet and back again.

"This morning, I received a message from someone who said they knew you. Someone who you haven't seen in so long, and when I heard his name, I remembered the stories you used to tell me, about how you became king, about the man who saved your life."

Sasuke's ears began to roar, his heart hammering within his chest, and he didn't dare speak for fear she wouldn't come out with everything.

"And he knew that today was my coronation, that you would no longer be king technically by tonight. And he asked me, rather nicely, if I wouldn't mind letting you go."

"Go?" Sasuke whispered, his eyes so wide they could be saucers.

Anko approached him with outstretched hands, curling them around his shoulders in a tight hug. "You've been more than a father to me, Sasuke. But for years, I've watched you put aside yourself, your heart, for your love for Otogakure. I learned from you as best as I could, hoping that one-day I could pay you back for how much you've taught me and loved me. I'm smart, Sasuke, and I have everything I could ever need here to make me a good queen. You've placed Oto in my hands now, and I'm asking you to trust me with it."

Sasuke pulled away slightly to look into her eyes, so calm and sincere, so dark and full, just like his mother's eyes. She stared into him, and the implications of her words could only mean one thing. That _one thing_ made him tremble in her grasp.

Her voice struck his ears again. "There is a man waiting for you outside of the palace walls in a cruiser built for two. He says he's been waiting for you for a while." Anko's voice dropped to a whisper. "His name is Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke pulled in a shaky breath, shuddering under the weight of that name. He couldn't find words to speak, didn't know if he should even consider it, leaving Anko, leaving Oto when she'd just taken the throne. But Naruto…

"I—I can't," he stammered, overwhelmed with the idea. "I can't leave… if I'm seen leaving… What will we tell the people?"

"That you're in retirement and want to be left in peace." Her eyebrows waggled conspiratorially. "But if you want to get down there without kicking up a fuss, I'd suggest you take one of your 'special' ways, if you know what I mean. You're not too old for that, are you?"

Sasuke allowed himself a chuckle, still uncertain, still reeling, but the thought of Naruto, _Naruto_… It took every ounce of his reserve and threw it out the window. He was powerless to resist it, just as much as he felt powerful under its thrall.

Anxious suddenly to go, he thought nothing of clothes, things to pack. He secured another jacket over the one he was already wearing. Then wrapping strong arms around Anko, his legacy, he held and kissed her. "Thank you," he whispered into her hair, and she gasped with the change that overcame him. "What?"

"You look like a little boy," she whispered, almost frightened with it.

Haughty energy he hadn't felt in years stole over his body, and he released a rugged smirk, one that rivaled even Anko's customary smiles, as he perched himself over the edge of the balcony. "I told you I wasn't some old man."

And without hesitation, he flew himself over the edge, grappling with the vines on the way down and landing like a cat on the next lower tier of the palace. Anko's laughter filled his ears and echoed over the smooth stones as Sasuke maneuvered around the northern half of the palace face, his fingers clutching at tiny cracks in the walls. He hadn't taken this particular route in a long time, yet his hands knew the way. All the fatigue, all the weariness and creaking in his limbs left him every second, restoring him into the young man he ought to be. His heart soared, and despite the ridiculousness of his circumstances— sneaking out of his own palace— he somehow found it oddly fitting. Sasuke had never done things by the rules, even in this, his true final act as king that no one but a select few would ever know. Sasuke finally landed on the northern edge of the palace and found himself deep within the labyrinth that surrounded the graves of his parents, Itachi, and now Sakura. Her body remained with her family on her plot, but Sasuke had erected a memorial stone in her honor and placed her beside his brother. They both might have liked that, and in some juvenile part of his mind, Sasuke hoped that in the afterlife they might have met each other.

The moonlight flickered over the white snow, brightening the labyrinth considerably as well as the memorial stones, fully restored and glimmering, that took up the inner garden. Sasuke smiled as he saw them, for once not overwhelmed with sorrow and guilt as he looked upon them. Kneeling, he touched the polished, dark surface with the tips of his fingers and paid respects to his parents, then moving on he stared at Itachi's name, let it roll over his tongue as he spoke. "Brother, I… I hope you're proud of me. I've done a lot of things, both good and bad for Oto. But everything I've done was to follow what you said. I loved this planet. I do still. And Sakura…" He turned an eye to her grave, smaller than the others, but her stone was special, interwoven with another granite that held a slight pink hue, matching the colors of the setting sun on a spring evening. Even pale under the moonlight, he could still see her color showing through.

"Thank you for saving me. If I hadn't known you, I wouldn't be who I was today. You taught me to live and keep living no matter what. You were the cure for my loneliness and my pain. You opened my mind to a life where I can be happy, and I could never… never thank you enough for that." His mind coursed with memories of her, her light her kindness, her unflinching love for him, and sometimes he remembered when she would ask if he loved her in return. She deserved to know now at least. "And I do love you, so much, Sakura, with all of my heart." Finally tears did spring to his eyes as he bent and kissed her name, a hand trembling over the elegantly carved letters for a final time. "I love you."

He stood at length, wiping water from his eyes and giving the graves, his family, one last lingering glance before he gathered himself and stole away into the night.

He didn't take the labyrinth out, instead finding one of the more solid walls and climbing over it with ease. He was surprised at himself. He'd kept a regiment of light training to keep him healthy and to prevent flab, but he hadn't done anything this extraneous in quite sometime. Despite that, he wasn't even panting as he vaulted himself over the side of the wall and landed heavily outside the palace. Darkness enveloped him, and without hesitating he double-backed around the wall south, where he knew the hangar was meant to be located, though he'd have to climb up another palace wall to get to it. When he finally did reach the concrete surface, he grimaced at the climb. Ten meters up and hardly any usable crevices from what he saw. Once he reached the top, he knew he'd reach the plateau and a small hangar that stretched back into the upper regions of the palace.

Sasuke couldn't make the climb under normal circumstances, but this was Naruto, _Naruto_, waiting for him up there. Sasuke could feel the excitement, the emotion course through his veins like fire, and he was briefly reminded of Naruto's red, hot chakra, circling around him and giving him energy. He pulled in ragged breaths, attempting to focus, attempting to gather, and when he felt as if he had dragged every part of his essence into his own chest, he released it and bolted for the wall. The first five meters he scaled in an inhuman feat of strength and dexterity, while the second five meters fell to his arms and legs that scrambled like some kind of animal up the side of the craggy surface until he reached the top, throwing himself over with a burst of speed and adrenaline. Anxious, rushed, fevered with his need just to see Naruto, he didn't feel even weathered from the climb until his unfocused eyes, hazy from the exercise, suddenly cleared.

The small jet he'd once flown once over the planes of Suna lay in docile quiet, its sleek arrow-head figure gleaming in the sparse light of the overhead lamps. Sasuke couldn't pinpoint the figure standing beside the vessel; it was so still, almost as still as himself— frozen into place by longing, excitement, and sheer panic. Sasuke's muscles, even if he had the presence to command them, wouldn't respond no matter the subtle urging. The figure was tall and large, muscled and uniformed, though the collar looked to be unbuttoned as well as the front of a navy blue jacket. The silhouette of the man took a step forward and then another, coming slowly into the light. The shock of blonde danced brilliantly through the darkness, followed closely behind the deepest blue eyes Sasuke could ever remember seeing. Naruto's chin was rugged, unshaven and hinting at a blonde beard. His neck tensed a little, choking back words or perhaps trying to produce them, and his arms moved a fraction, either in shock or anticipation.

"S-Sasuke." The voice was deeper than he remembered but still held the same octave, the same strength and goodness Sasuke had come to love.

Another step was taken forward, drawing Sasuke's eyes to the black boots, cleaned and polished despite the ruggedness of Naruto's dress— his slacks lay loose about his waist, and Sasuke could see the white undershirt as well as a little of the tan chest hidden beneath.

"Naruto."

**I've always felt bad for not doing shout outs in any of my author's notes… I do truly appreciate the reviews, especially from the ones who do it regularly with each chapter! You know who you are, and thank you so much. **


	24. Chapter 23

**AU: Last chapter! Finally, after so long! **

**Please enjoy.**

**Chapter 23**

"Naruto."

He whispered it, the name he sometimes couldn't bear to think of without hurting. With the name came the figure, standing in shadows as still as a statue, save for the electric blue eyes peering from the darkness like living things.

Naruto… and here Sasuke was, before the man he'd thought of every day for years, and he was just _standing there_?

Enraged at his own stupidity and cowardice, Sasuke found the will to move his limbs and plunged like an animal, dashing for Naruto and leaping at the last minute only to be caught in the most brutally strong embrace he'd ever experienced. It felt as if Naruto's whole body and not just his arms were holding him close, close to his chest, his erratically beating heart.

A loud, boisterous laugh bubbled from Sasuke's lips without his permission. In another moment and his laughter was echoed with Naruto's as they cramped their muscles in the fiercest hug either had ever experienced.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Naruto whispered his name into his ear with a chuckle.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Sasuke quipped back with a smirk, raising his eyes to meet the cerulean orbs above. His breath caught when he met Naruto's eyes, and all pretenses were dropped instantly. The smile on Naruto's lips faded.

The Jounin bent like a man starved of water and food and pressed his lips hungrily against Sasuke's, dragging the soft planes of his mouth over the smaller, paler ones beneath until Sasuke had to gasp for breath from the sheer ferocity. Yet something had changed within him; the years as king had shaped him somewhat. Where Naruto's striking advances would have cowed him in the past, Sasuke felt his heart soar at the ferocity of the embrace and returned it with equal if not greater fervor. His feet met the ground solidly as he groaned and shoved Naruto backwards, until the blonde's sturdy back met the hull of the cruiser behind him. The force of the blow paused Naruto's assault and began Sasuke's. Still comparably smaller than the Jounin, Sasuke had to extend his body to its fullest to eagerly claim Naruto's quivering mouth, even shoving his shoulders down to gain better access. He could feel Naruto's surprise at his sudden reversal of their positions, yet only a breathy moan and the encouraging squeeze of Naruto's hands on his shoulders was the reply.

Fevered, starved, Sasuke lost track of time and savored the touch he'd been craving for so long, willing for once to be spoiled and wanton. His fingers skimmed under Naruto's jacket, enjoying the hardened, warmed muscles beneath the soft fabric, consuming the opened, hot mouth that claimed his with equal fervor. He could feel Naruto's hands as well, perusing under his heavy jacket to his hips and sinking blunted nails into the sensitive skin there. He gasped at the contact, obeying Naruto's upward pull to loop his legs around Naruto's sturdy frame. Naruto gripped him like something precious, clawing at his shoulders and back and burying his head into the crook of Sasuke's neck.

"Sasuke," he heard his name slip from Naruto's mouth hoarsely. "Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. Gods of fire, I missed you." He raised his mouth to Sasuke's, planting a long kiss across them. "Every day." A kiss. "I missed you." Another searing touch, licking across the seam of his lips. "Every memory of you, I held to me." He lowered his head to Sasuke's face, kissing every centimeter of skin, from his forehead to both cheeks to his lips and down a stubbled chin. "Every letter you sent me was an oasis. So long without looking at you, touching you. And now you're here. _Finally_."

"Naruto," Sasuke whispered, his eyes stinging with unshed tears as he clutched Naruto with all his might. "I've thought of you too. I never stopped thinking of you, not for a moment."

He thought he shuddered for a moment but realized the tremor had radiated from Naruto's body. Slowly, he pulled back to finally see Naruto's face up close. There was a thickness that hadn't been there before, a few wrinkles, just around his eyes. His hair was a lighter around the edges, while his eyebrows remained the darker, dirtier blonde they'd always been. The arms that Sasuke clutched desperately were heavier, stronger, while the torso pressed against his felt bigger than it once had.

"You've changed a little I see," he said with a smile.

"Not half as much as you," Naruto replied with another, slow kiss. "Are you ready to go?"

_Go_, Sasuke thought with a sudden thrill of fear, glancing behind him to the capital's skyline. Otogakure lay there, safe, happy, restored. The Missling Class was no more, Sakura had been both avenged and honored, his family was restored fully at the palace, and Anko would be a wise and beautiful queen.

"Yes. I'm ready."

Naruto smiled his old smile, so full of life and sunshine, and crushed Sasuke against him. The only warning he received to being suddenly lifted in the Jounin's strong arms was the short bark of a laugh Naruto released. He looked more like a child than Sasuke had ever seen him, the lines around his eyes creasing and somehow making his smile even wider.

Sasuke would have protested to being carried, but he was deposited easily into the familiar cruiser's cockpit before he had a chance to open his mouth. Obviously giddy, Naruto sprang into the seat next to him, vibrating with energy.

Sasuke allowed the light radiating off Naruto to sink into him, and as they both worked through the preflight sequence together, Naruto and Sasuke shared a brief, smiling glance between each other. But instead of programming a course for Suna, as Sasuke had initially expected, Naruto gave the navcomputer liftoff instructions only. As the generator came up, Sasuke felt the sweep of his awareness at the edge of his senses, passing over him like a warm, familiar wave of heat. Sasuke pulled in a breath and glanced sideways at his companion, the eye contact intensifying the connection. He didn't realize how much he'd missed Naruto's subtle, chakra-filled caress and suddenly confronted with it, Sasuke felt himself melt willingly into the touch.

Naruto reached across the controls and sealed his mouth against Sasuke's, the pressing sensation becoming deeper as they physically connected. The young king wrapped arms around Naruto's shoulders and welcomed every sensation, welcomed _him_, with enough desperation to even frighten Naruto, who pulled back and looked at Sasuke through hooded eyes.

"We have to takeoff," Naruto whispered, as if reminding himself. Sasuke nodded, a little bit of heat spreading up his face.

"Right."

"Sasuke?"

He glanced curiously at the Jounin. The ready-lights flashed.

"We're not going to Suna, or anyplace you've been before. We're going to Konohagakure."

Sasuke unconsciously pulled a lever to release the brakes. "Your home?"

Naruto nodded. "Konoha is the sanctuary of my people." Thrust caught them, and they lifted slowly. "It's almost like a retreat— like Naka Shrine, but more pastoral. Home-town-like. And it would be a beautiful place for a wedding. A simple one."

Naruto touched Sasuke's hand on the console. "You know what it would mean, if you want it, Sasuke."

Yes. Sasuke knew. Naruto offered the bonding like a gift, and others had survived it. There had been a time, he remembered, when he had fought for the right to die. Naruto had persuaded him to live, to live with _him_, and duty to his people had interfered. Yet in the most cynical part of Sasuke's mind he often wondered what had kept from accepting Naruto before, the responsibility of being king or his own cowardice?

"Naruto." Sasuke straightened. "If you're willing to take an outsider, the _king_ of outsiders mind you, then I can face your pair bonding. You gave me back my life, and I've been waiting for too long to share it with you."

Naruto's eyes shone under the blue striplights as he gave the computer final instructions. Starpricks began to spring from the blackness of space, and Oto's horizon curved far below.

"Ready to slip?" Naruto asked with a smile.

Sasuke felt the nostalgic thrill that only came to him while he was flying and smirked haughtily. "Of course."

Like fire kissing water, their little ship winked out of space.

-oOo-

Konohagakure was a rural planet, and the capital city was surrounded on all sides by lush, thick forests, just as Naruto had said it would be.

A stark contrast to the orderly, sometimes cold streets of Oto, Konoha was laid out in a hubbub of mismatched old and new buildings, colored brightly and lining dirt-covered pathways which were too narrow to fit speeders along them. No one really cared, for no Konoha resident rode in speeders. The inhabitants, casually dressed in brightly-colored robes or simple slacks and shirts, ranged in all colors and sizes and milled about happily on the roadways or ducked into restaurants, bars, or cafes.

Sasuke was surprised by the amount of trees lining the sides of the roads. Despite the tropical climate, brawny oaks lined every road and sometimes clustered together between two buildings, creating a miniature park where children played freely. Unfortunately, for Sasuke was fascinated with the city, they didn't spend more than a few minutes over the streets before they passed the capital into the outskirts, where a massive mountain rose out of the roots of the city like an overhanging guardian. Sasuke's eyes widened as he beheld faces, imposing and strong, carved into the side of the alp, their watchful eyes facing the city and protecting it. One of the faces looked particularly familiar: the strong cheeks, curved eyes, wily hair, and even the customary whisker marks…

"Naruto!" Sasuke gasped, his mouth flung open in shock. "T-that's you!"

Naruto laughed as they passed the mountainside, glancing fondly at the structure. "Each Hokage's visage has been carved into that mountain, so their souls, both present and past, can watch over Konoha. I remember as a kid, I used to paint graffiti all over that mountain because I felt the previous Hokage were going to be nothing compared to me. Mind you, at the time no one thought I had a icicle's chance in a furnace to become Hokage." He put a hand to his head in embarrassment. "I can't believe I got away with what I did."

"You defaced that structure?" Sasuke asked incredulously before folding his hands over his chest in sarcastic judgment. "Truly a dobe."

Naruto's eyes brightened considerably. "Haven't heard that in a long time, _Your Highness_."

In defeat, Sasuke threw his hands in the air, unable to deny his status, and Naruto roared with laughter as they cruised farther out of the city into the dense, forested lands below.

-oOo-

His hand in Naruto's, Sasuke stepped through a sliding, wooden door and surveyed the traditional green courtyard to which Naruto had brought him. All wooden and covered in smooth stones except ahead, where there shimmered a bubbling man-made pond surrounded by a latticed rail, crossed and recrossed by paths of stepping stones and broken by islands of greenery.

Sunlight streamed down from open, blue sky, dancing and refracting on the water, and from somewhere he could hear more water rushing and splashing.

The Master Jounin that Naruto had introduced as Kakashi Hatake stepped around from behind them, very tall and thin, with brown eyes as pale as his white hair. Dressed all in white with an eight-rayed star, he wore his age well: forty, perhaps? or fifty?

"Have you eaten?" He touched a bell.

"Enough." Naruto squeezed Sasuke's hand as the younger man stood in motionless wonder.

A young girl in a pale blue gown with clear, blue eyes and hair that shone a shade lighter than Naruto's approached along a walkway, through a high arch on the right. "Go with

her, Lord Sasuke," said Master Kakashi. "She'll show you to a bath and give you a change of clothes."

Though loathe to leave Naruto, Sasuke followed the girl leftward along the side of the sparkling pool, to another wide, wooden corridor. His guide walked without hesitation to the fourth sliding door, opened it, and stepped aside. He noticed a sheen of red across her nose as she looked shyly up at him then down again, and he gave her a quick bow before walking in.

At first, the movement ahead startled him. It looked as though the inner wall were

quaking. Then he sighed, delighted. As his eyes adjusted to the pale light he saw that the long wall hid behind a pale curtain of water that cascaded endlessly over smooth white stone.

The girl disappeared through an open door, but Sasuke sat for a moment on the bed's white coverlet, watching and listening to the singing waters, wondering if he dared take the step ahead of him.

Then he rose and followed.

-oOo-

Kakashi lead Naruto across the stepping-stones toward his own quarters. _Naruto_, Kakashi subvocalized as his long legs swung him from stone to stone, _yesterday we received formal word from Oto. It appears that a few of the elder council members have misplaced a member of the royal family, the former king I believe. _

Naruto grimaced at first but then broke into a longsuffering smile. _I told you who I was getting from Otogakure. _

_You gave me half a name. You could have mentioned he was the king of the place. _

_Former king, Kakashi. _

The older gentleman gave an inward sigh so palpable that Naruto could have tasted his frustration._ Naruto, don't you realize that kidnapping a member of the royal family could be perceived as a blatant misuse of your power as High Commander?_

_Kidnapping, Kakashi? Really? He hardly looks kidnapped to me. And I requested permission from Anko Uchiha, the current queen of Oto. If she's having communication issues with her staff, then that's hardly my fault._

At that, Kakashi broke into a smile, all pretenses of scolding dropped. "I'm glad to see you've gone back to your old self, Naruto. I was worried for you, these past few years."

Naruto actually giggled, bouncing on the heels of his shoes. "No worries, Kakashi! I just got a little impatient." He put a hand on the older man's shoulder.

"_Impatient_ being the understatement of the century." The white-haired man turned a serious eye to the younger Jounin. In his youth, Naruto had spent a good deal of time under Kakashi's personal care, and frankly upon meeting him, Kakashi had thought him to be an incompetent troublemaker. Over the years, he watched Naruto gain enough confidence in himself to overcome his learning issues and become one of the finest Jounin Konohagakure had ever seen. Kakashi had never been truly worried about the boy, even through battles and wars, until he'd seen Naruto's face upon his return to Konoha from Otogakure years prior. Naruto's eyes had never appeared more longing, and the Jounin had been listless and void, as if the true Naruto had left his husk of a body behind to venture through the stars.

Naruto's voice had been empty when describing his love for the Otogakure king, whom he'd simply addressed as "Sasuke" in Kakashi's presence. In truth, he hadn't known about Sasuke's prestigious background or rank until his arrival, when he'd instantly recognized the dark-haired youth from countless scandisks of information he'd received on Otogakure's royal family. For some reason he hadn't made the connection between the once-lost and wily boy Naruto described in his stories and Otogakure's young but ambitiously wise king.

Eventually, Naruto's inner stasis had thawed, and the young Jounin immediately threw himself back into work under the Federacy. In record time, Naruto ascended through the ranks, performing beautifully on every assigned mission until finally he'd been appointed to the prestigious High Command— he was the first Jounin to ever obtain such a rank.

And now, with his military success complete, Naruto finally was receiving the one thing he'd pined for all this time. Kakashi shook his head. Such an odd story for a Jounin. Most of their kind pair-bonded on the same day they met. Naruto had waited years.

The blonde man, who looked younger and younger with such a wide smile plastered on his face, addressed Kakashi once more. "I can't thank you enough for helping me with taking time off. I can't believe you could actually get me two months here with him."

"It's nowhere near the time you deserve, Naruto," he replied with the upmost sincerity. "But I did my best. The Jounin are proud of you for getting the High Command. We'll protect you and your bond-mate no matter what. He'll be one of us, just as you are one of us."

"Thank you, Master."

"But there is one more thing I have to ask you about, Naruto," Kakashi persisted, meeting eye-contact with his student. _What you told me about— what happened with Sasuke at the Shrine. Have you spoken with him about it?_

Naruto's mouth straightened, his light-hearted demeanor vanishing. _I haven't. I doubt he really remembers it or thinks it was him. But I've reviewed that memory at least a hundred times, and I'm certain it was Sasuke's energy that sent the Bunshin out of Orochimaru's hands. Not mine. _

_Do you think you should speak to him before…_

_Either way,_ Naruto interrupted quickly_, he is mine, and I'm his. If he does have Jounin potential, we'll take it from there. _

_You don't need to think about it today, Naruto. _Kakashi placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. _This is a time to be happy, not concerned with the future. You both deserve this. _

Naruto nodded, and smiled, some of his brightness returning. "Thanks, Kakashi."

-oOo-

The same blonde girl led Sasuke to Master Kakashi's rooms. Naruto stood inside, clothed in dress whites again, and on Kakashi's desk lay a long document, rough-textured like ancient parchment.

"I have completed all but one thing, Lord Sasuke," he said. "What name will you take?"

"Sasuke Uchiha Uzumaki." He twisted an end of the long blue belt the girl had wound around his loose-fitting tunic. A broad smile spread across Naruto's face.

"I like your name,'" Sasuke whispered as Kakashi filled the last blank space. "I would like to adopt it."

Between the Jounins he walked out upon the stepping-stones. As the sun sank, the hues of the courtyard dimmed, but a band of light began to gleam around the edge of the waters, reflecting blue and green off Naruto's whites.

They halted on a paved island. Sasuke faced Kakashi, his heart stirring nervously; Naruto drew close beside him.

"You have no doubts?" Kakashi asked softly. "You will hold this bond before all other loyalties, Sasuke? And you, Naruto? Your path may not be easy."

Sasuke saw Naruto nod slightly, and did the same. Master Kakashi placed his hands on their shoulders, speaking softly in a tongue he did not know. A blessing, he guessed, or an invocation.

Naruto answered briefly in what he thought was the same language.

Then Kakashi dropped his right hand, leaving one on Sasuke's left shoulder. "Sasuke," he said gently, "you have chosen a Jounin. Your culture has done nothing to prepare you for this."

Sasuke met the steady gaze of Kakashi's brown eyes. "That is true, Master, but Naruto has explained bonding to me. I have accepted it—and him."

"Then, I ask to touch your spirits."

Naruto stepped behind him at once, circled his waist with one arm, and pressed into his mind, far deeper than he had ever gone before. For a sweet moment Sasuke held steady, but the feeling became a hurricane inside him, tearing him from his moorings even as it filled him with the presence he had come to love more than flight, more than freedom, more than life. As it became impossibly intense Sasuke let his body tumble against

Naruto's.

The Jounin gathered him up into his arms. Sasuke sensed the approach of Kakashi's "otherness."

"Yes," the elder Sentinel's voice echoed above the joyous roar of Sasuke's senses. "It is right. I bless your bonding. It is yours to finish."

A burst of light filled his mind's eye as Kakashi spoke.

With a heavy groan and resting against Naruto's chest, Sasuke half opened his eyes. Naruto took a step backward.

"I can walk," he murmured.

"Let me. Please?" Naruto kissed him, then. Carrying him like a holy vessel, he walked back across the stones over the water, along the wide way, and through the open door of their bedchamber.

**Star Fighters: **

**The end. **

**Or is it? I'm one of those people who like me some love-making. Give me a little time, and I'll pull something up. **

**Or not. I like the idea of pair-bonding, but maybe you'd like to leave the experience for your imagination to take over? You'll have to let me know if you want to read it!**

**Thank you so much for your continued support. I'm writing other stories. Please subscribe to me, and you'll know when they come out! **


End file.
